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Letter

Nature Cell Biology 10, 228–236 (1 February 2008) | doi:10.1038/ncb1685

Developmentally regulated transcription of mammalian telomeres by DNA-dependent RNA polymerase II

Stefan Schoeftner & Maria A. Blasco

Mammalian telomeres consist of non-coding TTAGGG repeats that are bound by the multi-protein complex 'shelterin', thus protecting chromosome ends from DNA repair mechanisms and degradation. Mammalian telomeric chromatin is enriched for the constitutive heterochromatin marks H3K9me3, H4K20me3 and HP1 (refs 2–7).