Giulia Mazzucco

This study investigates how telomeres impede replication by showing G-rich DNA and shelterin subunit POT1 block lagging strand replication, with POT1 causing Okazaki fragment skipping and large single-stranded gaps.

The paper develops a method to enrich and purify centromeric DNA from human cells, achieving 25-fold enrichment and up to 60% centromeric content in sequenced fractions.

The paper shows that telomere damage leads to internal loops (i-loops) that can form extrachromosomal telomeric circles, contributing to telomere erosion.