However, the effect cell division has on a telomere may directly relate to the type of cell in question. For example, according to one study titled “Telomeres, lifestyle, cancer, and aging,” the article states the following:
“Telomerase activity, the ability to extend telomeres, is present in germline and certain hematopoietic cells, whereas somatic cells have low or undetectable levels of this activity and their telomeres undergo a progressive shortening with replications.”
The discovery that telomeres act to protect cells, particularly chromosomes and DNA, was made by Hermann Muller in the 1930s. While Muller found the telomeres remained separate from one another, and seemed to protect the chromosome, it is said he did not know exactly how this was accomplished.
Then, in 2009, Jack Szostak and Elizabeth Blackburn were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their contribution in the area of exactly how telomeres and the enzyme telomerase help to protect chromosomes.