Video / Sharecare Experts / Elissa Epel, PhD / What Is a Telomere?

What Is a Telomere?

What Is a Telomere? (1:04)

Telomeres are strings of DNA that protect the ends of chromosomes. Chronic stress causes damage to the telomeres. In this video, Elissa Epel, PhD, associate professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco explains.

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[SOUND] The telomeres are these long strings of DNA repeating sequences of base pairs, that wind up and protect the ends of the chromosomes. And turns out that thee telomeres are sensing danger around them in the cell environment and so if there are biochemical signals and messengers, if there're stress around then that actually causes damage to the telomere shortening when it's chronic.

In the short run, it actually probably beats up the protective system around it. So, for example, we know that under acute stress, the enzyme that protects the [UNKNOWN], the telomere goes up during acute stress, it appears to want to defend that cell from stressful chemical and damage.

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