Strain-specific telomere length revealed by single telomere length analysis in Caenorhabditis elegans
Strain-specific telomere length revealed by single telomere length analysis in Caenorhabditis elegans
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DOI：
10.1093/nar/gkh661
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发表时间：
2004-06-01
影响因子：
14.9
通讯作者：
Baird, DM
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Cheung, I;Schertzer, M;Baird, DM
末端限制性片段分析是目前唯一可用于测量秀丽隐杆线虫端粒长度的方法。其局限性包括灵敏度低以及线虫基因组中存在间质端粒序列的干扰。在这里，我们报告了单端粒长度分析（STELA）的适应，以测量秀丽隐杆线虫 V 号染色体左臂上端粒重复的长度。这种基于 PCR 的高度灵敏方法可以测量少至单个蠕虫的端粒长度。 STELA 对八种野生型线虫菌株的应用揭示了端粒长度的相当大的菌株特异性差异。在各个菌株中，观察到短的外围端粒，与大量端粒长度分布明显不同，这表明除了末端复制丢失和端粒酶介导的延长之外的过程可能会在秀丽隐杆线虫中产生端粒长度异质性。 mrt-2 突变体端粒缩短的表征进一步证明了该方法的实用性。我们得出的结论是，STELA 似乎是研究线虫端粒生物学的一个有价值的工具。
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.