needed at the ends of linear chromosomes. Telomeres function to provide this signaling. Telomeres, rich in guanine and with a propensity to form g-quadruplexes, are located at the terminal ends of chromosomes and help maintain genome integrity by protecting these vulnerable terminal ends from instability.

These telomeric regions are characterized by long regions of double-stranded CCCTAA:TTAGGG repeats. The repeats end with a 3' protrusion of between 10 and 50 single-stranded TTAGGG repeats. The heterodimeric