Extrachromosomal rDNA circle
Encyclopedia
Extrachromosomal rDNA circles (ERC) are self replicating circles of ribosomal DNA
Ribosomal DNA
Ribosomal DNA codes for ribosomal RNA. The ribosome is an intracellular macromolecule that produces proteins or polypeptide chains. The ribosome itself consists of a composite of proteins and RNA. As shown in the figure, rDNA consists of a tandem repeat of a unit segment, an operon, composed of...

 found in some strains of yeast
Yeast
Yeasts are eukaryotic micro-organisms classified in the kingdom Fungi, with 1,500 species currently described estimated to be only 1% of all fungal species. Most reproduce asexually by mitosis, and many do so by an asymmetric division process called budding...

 and thought to contribute to their aging.
The ERC accumulate in the mother cell during the budding process.

They are a type of Extrachromosomal Circular DNA (eccDNA),
a type of Extrachromosomal DNA
Extrachromosomal DNA
Extrachromosomal DNA is DNA located or maintained in a cell apart from the chromosomes....

.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK