It has been evident for some time that the telomeres (ends) of eukaryotic hromosomes must have proper-ties that fulfill a number of functional requirements. For example, unlike ends of chromosome fragments, telomeres protect he natural chromosome end against fusion with other chromosome ends. They are often associated with the nuclear envelope. They pose a rep-lication problem for the cell since all known DNA po-lymerases require a primer and synthesize only in the 5'--'3 ' direction. This implies that without a special structure, only one daughter chromosome would be completely replicated, the other being shortened, com-pared with the parental chromosome, by excision of a primer. This hortening would occur at each cell divi-sion and could presumably not be tolerated beyond a
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Cooke et al. (1986) studied this question.