Telomere protects the ends of linear chromosomes. Telomere dysfunction fuels genome instability that can lead to diseases such as cancer. For over 30 years, Drosophila has fascinated the field as the only major model organism that does not rely on the conserved telomerase enzyme for end protection. Instead of short DNA repeats at chromosome ends, Drosophila has domesticated retrotransposons. In addition, telomere protection can be entirely sequence-independent under normal laboratory conditions, again dissimilar to what has been established for telomerase-maintained systems. Despite these major differences, recent studies from us and others have revealed remarkable similarities between the 2 systems. In particular, with the identification of the MTV complex as an ssDNA binding complex essential for telomere integrity in Drosophila (Zhang et al. 2016 Plos Genetics), we have now established several universal principles that are intrinsic to chromosome extremities but independent of the underlying DNA sequences or the telomerase enzyme. Telomere studies in Drosophila will continue to yield fundamental insights that are instrumental to the understanding of the evolution of telomere and telomeric functions.

端粒保护线性染色体的末端。端粒功能障碍会加剧基因组的不稳定，从而导致癌症等疾病。30 多年来，果蝇作为唯一不依赖保守端粒酶进行末端保护的主要模式生物，一直令该领域着迷。果蝇驯化了逆转录转座子，而不是染色体末端的短 DNA 重复序列。此外，在正常实验室条件下，端粒保护可以完全独立于序列，这又与端粒酶维持系统所建立的不同。尽管存在这些重大差异，但我们和其他人最近的研究揭示了这两个系统之间的显着相似之处。特别是，随着 MTV 复合物被鉴定为果蝇端粒完整性所必需的 ssDNA 结合复合物（Zhang 等人，2016 Plos Genetics），我们现在已经建立了一些染色体末端固有但独立于底层 DNA 的通用原理序列或端粒酶。果蝇端粒研究将继续产生有助于理解端粒和端粒功能进化的基本见解。