Regulation of telomeric length in insects
Date: 10.8.2015
DNA-protein complexes at the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes, telomeres, are biomarkers of aging and health conditions of organism. Short telomere length is associated with premature aging and numerous human diseases, such as cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases, cancer or diabetes. Length of telomeres is influenced by genetic, environmental and lifestyle factors. Telomeres are highly sensitive to damage induced by oxidative stress, and oxidative stress is the main cause of telomere shortening. Over the last decades, the link of telomeres and oxidative stress with human diseases is the focus of intensive research.
The central interest of the group is to study the impact of environmental stress on telomere homeostasis in Drosophila. The main line of the research follows the associations between environmental stress, oxidative stress level, insect neurohormones and telomere biology.
Figure. Localization of telomeres in polytene nucleus. Chromosomes were counterstained with DAPI (blue) and telomeres were visualized with fluorescence probe (red) using fluorescence in situ hybridization.
With the support of MODBIOLIN, the team was able to purchase several important laboratory equipments – PCR cycler (Biometra), Biohazard box (BioAir), two laboratory centrifuges (Eppendorf), pH meter, two laboratory incubators, a stereomicroscope (Arsenal) and two sets of laboratory pipettes (Eppendorf).
Author: RNDr. Radmila Čapková Frydrychová Ph.D.
We acknowledge the use of research infrastructure that has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° 316304.
This issue is processed eg. in:
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