Subtelomeres: hotspots of genome variation.

Abstract

Eukaryotic cells contain multiple types of duplicated sequences. Typical examples are tandem repeat sequences including telomeres, centromeres, rDNA genes and transposable elements. Most of these sequences are unstable; thus, their copy numbers or sequences change rapidly in the course of evolution. In this review, I will describe roles of subtelomere regions, which are located adjacent to telomeres at chromosome ends, and recent discoveries about their sequence variation.