My group is interested in cellular processes that impact on the length and stability of telomeric DNA in somatic cells and in the germ line. Telomeres cap the ends of chromosomes and thus play an essential role in the maintenance of genome stability and cancer avoidance. Some species use telomere shortening to regulate the number of cell divisions a cell can undergo before becoming senescent. Hence in humans, telomeres shorten with increasing age

Huang, Y., Hidalgo-Bravo, A., Zhang, E., Cotton, V.E., Mendez-Bermudez, A., Wig, G., Medina-Calzada, Z., Neumann, R., Jeffreys, A.J., Winney, B., Wilson, J.F., Clark, D.A., Dyer, M.J., and Royle, N.J. (2013). Human telomeres that carry an integrated copy of human herpesvirus 6 are often short and unstable, facilitating release of the viral genome from the chromosome. Nucl. Acids Res. 42:315-27http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24057213 A. Mendez-Bermudez, A, Hidalgo-Bravo, V.E. Cotton, A. Gravani, J.N. Jeyapalan and N.J. Royle (2012) The roles of WRN and BLM RecQ helicases in the Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres. Nucl. Acids Res. 40: 10809-20http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22989712 A. Mendez-Bermudez and N. J. Royle (2011) Deficiency in DNA mismatch repair increases the rate of telomere shortening in normal human cells. Hum Mutation 32: 939-46. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21538690 Lim, K. W., Alberti, P., Guédin, A., Lacroix, L., Riou, J-F., ROYLE, N. J., Mergny, J-L. and Phan, A. T. (2009) Sequence variant (CTAGGG)n in the human telomere favors a G-quadruplex structure containing a G?C?G?C tetrad. Nucl. Acids Res. 37:6239-6248 Mendez-Bermudez, A., Hills, M., Pickett, H.A., Phan, A.T., Mergny, J-L., Rioux, J-F. and ROYLE, N.J. (2009) Human telomeres that contain (CTAGGG)n repeats show replication dependent instability in somatic cells and the male germline. Nucl.Acids Res. 37 6225-6238 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19656953 Jeyapalan, J.N., Mendez-Bermudez, A., Zaffaroni, N., Dubrova, Y.E. and ROYLE, N. J. (2008) Evidence for Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres in the absence of ALT associated PML bodies identified directly in liposarcomas. International Journal of Cancer 122:2414-2421 Fast Track http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18311780 ROYLE, N.J., Foxon, J.L., Jeyapalan, J.N., Mendez Bermudez, A., Novo, C.L., Williams, J. and Cotton, V.E. (2008) Telomere length maintenance – an ALTernative mechanism. Cytogenetic and Genome Research 122 281-291 Invited review Stagno D’Alcontres M., Mendez-Bermudez A., Foxon J.L., ROYLE N.J. and Salomoni P. (2007) Lack of TRF2 function in ALT cells causes PML-dependent p53 activation and telomere erosion. Journal of Cell Biology 179 855-867 Jeyapalan, J.N., Varley, H.,, Foxon, J. L., Pollock, R.E., Jeffreys, A.J., Henson, J.D., Reddel, R.R and ROYLE, N. J. (2005) Activation of the ALT pathway for telomere maintenance affects other sequences in the human genome. Hum. Mol. Genet. 14 1785-1794http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15888482 Pickett, H.A., Baird, D.M., Hoff-Olsen, P., Meling, G.I, Rognum, T.O., Shaw, J., West, K.P., and ROYLE, N.J. (2004) Telomere instability detected in sporadic colon cancers, some showing mutations in a mismatch repair gene. Oncogene 23 3434 – 3443