Strain-specific telomere length revealed by single telomere length analysis in Caenorhabditis elegans

Nucleic Acids Research
Iris CheungDuncan M Baird

Abstract

Terminal restriction fragment analysis is the only method currently available for measuring telomere length in Caenorhabditis elegans. Its limitations include low sensitivity and interference by the presence of interstitial telomeric sequences in the C.elegans genome. Here we report the adaptation of single telomere length analysis (STELA) to measure the length of telomeric repeats on the left arm of chromosome V in C.elegans. This highly sensitive PCR-based method allows telomere length measurement from as few as a single worm. The application of STELA to eight wild-type C.elegans strains revealed considerable strain-specific differences in telomere length. Within individual strains, short outlying telomeres were observed that were clearly distinct from the bulk telomere length distributions, suggesting that processes other than end-replication losses and telomerase-mediated lengthening may generate telomere length heterogeneity in C.elegans. The utility of this method was further demonstrated by the characterization of telomere shortening in mrt-2 mutants. We conclude that STELA appears to be a valuable tool for studying telomere biology in C.elegans.

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Citations

Aug 31, 2006·Plant Molecular Biology·G MailletM E Gallego
Jan 13, 2006·Nucleic Acids Research·Iris CheungPeter M Lansdorp
Sep 10, 2005·PLoS Genetics·Marcela RaicesJan Karlseder
Mar 14, 2009·PLoS Genetics·Matthew V Rockman, Leonid Kruglyak
Dec 4, 2013·The Journal of Cell Biology·Helder C FerreiraSusan M Gasser
Dec 21, 2005·Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine·Kah-Wai Lin, Ju Yan
Apr 21, 2006·The Plant Journal : for Cell and Molecular Biology·Hiroshi MizunoTakashi Matsumoto
Apr 3, 2015·Methods in Ecology and Evolution·Daniel H NusseyPat Monaghan
Jun 13, 2006·Mutation Research·Yang ZhaoAnn Rose
Nov 28, 2006·Expert Opinion on Drug Metabolism & Toxicology·William B Mattes
Nov 29, 2005·Human Molecular Genetics·Duncan M BairdDavid Kipling
Jan 18, 2018·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Duncan M Baird

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