By now most everyone knows about chromosomes and DNA. A chromosome is a strand of DNA and at the end of each chromosome is something called TELOMERES. Some refer to the teleomeres like book-ends to keep the chromosomes from binding onto other DNA or fusing into rings. I like to think of a teleomere as an eraser on a pencil.
Every time a cell divides, the DNA unfolds and the the DNA information is copied, except for the telomeres. Because the DNA strand shortens after it replicates, the telomeres take that hit, a little bit comes off each time protecting the DNA strand.
Consider the telomeres as the sacrificial part of the DNA strand. When the telomeres run out, critical parts of the DNA can be damaged in the process and scientists have observed that DNA quits replicating when the telomeres get shorter.
In the average human life span, the DNA replicates about 50 times before the telomeres run out, at which point the DNA begins to decline.
Every time the cell replicates and divides, a little bit of the telomeres comes off.
