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Nucleic Acids Research 2004 32(11):3383-3391; doi:10.1093/nar/gkh661
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Published online 24 June 2004

Nucleic Acids Research, Vol. 32 No. 11 © Oxford University Press 2004; all rights reserved

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

Iris Cheung1,2, Mike Schertzer1, Agnes Baross1, Ann M. Rose2, Peter M. Lansdorp1,3,* and Duncan M. Baird4

1 Terry Fox Laboratory, BC Cancer Agency, Vancouver, BC V5Z 4E6, Canada, 2 Department of Medical Genetics and 3 Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada and 4 Department of Pathology, University of Wales College of Medicine, Heath Park, Cardiff CF14 4XN, UK

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +1 604 877 6070; Fax: +1 604 877 0712; Email: plansdor{at}bccrc.ca
Present address: Agnes Baross, Genome Sciences Centre, BC Cancer Agency, Vancouver, BC V5Z 4E6, Canada

Received April 29, 2004; Revised and Accepted June 2, 2004

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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