[CITATION][C] The telomere hypothesis of cellular aging

CB Harley, H Vaziri, CM Counter, RC Allsopp - Experimental gerontology, 1992 - Elsevier
THE TELOMERE hypothesis of cellular aging provides a mechanism to account for the finite
replicative capacity of normal somatic cells. Its principle assumption is that telomerase, the
enzyme responsible for maintaining telomere length, is active during gametogenesis,
permitting long-term viability of the germ line, but is repressed during somatic cell
differentiation, accounting for the loss of telomeric DNA associated with the finite replicative
capacity of these cells. When telomere length reaches a certain size, a" checkpoint" is …