The DOI matches its Crossref record; 72 of the 73 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Telomere length measurement-caveats and a critical assessment of the available technologies and tools
Open accessAbstract
Studies of telomeres and telomere biology often critically rely on the detection of telomeric DNA and measurements of the length of telomere repeats in either single cells or populations of cells. Several methods are available that provide this type of information and it is often not clear what method is most appropriate to address a specific research question. The major variables that need to be considered are the material that is or can be made available and the accuracy of measurements that is required. The goal of this review is to provide a comprehensive summary of the most commonly used methods and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each. Methods that start with genomic DNA include telomere restriction fragment (TRF) length analysis, PCR amplification of telomere repeats relative to a single copy gene by Q-PCR or MMQPCR and single telomere length analysis (STELA), a PCR-based approach that accurately measures the full spectrum of telomere lengths from individual chromosomes. A different set of methods relies on fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) to detect telomere repeats in individual cells or chromosomes. By including essential calibration steps and appropriate controls these methods can be used to measure telomere repeat length or content in chromosomes and cells. Such methods include quantitative FISH (Q-FISH) and flow FISH which are based on digital microscopy and flow cytometry, respectively. Here the basic principles of various telomere length measurement methods are described and their strengths and weaknesses are highlighted. Some recent developments in telomere length analysis are also discussed. The information in this review should facilitate the selection of the most suitable method to address specific research question about telomeres in either model organisms or human subjects.
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“(c) different results may derive from different DNA extraction and assay methods and different laboratories (Aubert et al., 2012; Aviv et al., 2011; Cunningham et al., 2013; Montpetit et al., 2014; Nieratschker et al., 2013);”
From Psychiatric disorders and leukocyte telomere length: Underlying mechanisms linking mental illness with cellular aging (2015) · cites this paper as Aubert et al., 2012
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Cites
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BackgroundMammalian Telomeres End in a Large Duplex Loop
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Forging a signature of in vivo senescence
Sharpless, N. E., & Sherr, C. J. (2015) · Nature Reviews Cancer · doi:10.1038/nrc3960 · Cited by 1,104
Armanios, M., & Blackburn, E. H. (2012) · Nature Reviews Genetics · doi:10.1038/nrg3246 · Cited by 982
Telomeres and telomerase: three decades of progress
Shay, J. W., & Wright, W. E. (2019) · Nature Reviews Genetics · doi:10.1038/s41576-019-0099-1 · Cited by 924
A systematic review of leukocyte telomere length and age in adults
Müezzinler, A., Zaineddin, A. K., & Brenner, H. (2013) · Ageing Research Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.arr.2013.01.003 · Cited by 474
Vaiserman, A., & Krasnienkov, D. (2021) · Frontiers in Genetics · doi:10.3389/fgene.2020.630186 · Cited by 454
Metadata
- Authors
- Aubert, G., Hills, M., & Lansdorp, P. M.
- Affiliations
- BC Cancer Agency (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Lansdorp, Peter M.
- ORCID
- Lansdorp, Peter M.
- Venue
- Mutation research. Fundamental and molecular mechanisms of mutagenesis
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2012-02
- Volume
- 730
- Issue
- 1-2
- Pages
- 59-67
- ISSN
- 0027-5107 (ISSN-L)
- 1386-1964
- PMC
- PMC3460641
- OpenAlex
- W2014666122
- Cited by
- 342
- References
- 73
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 22 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 20 · 2021: 25 · 2020: 31 · 2019: 17 · 2018: 32 · 2017: 36 · 2016: 29 · 2015: 29 · 2014: 27 · 2013: 27 · 2012: 11
- FWCI
- 14.83
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- europepmc.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Mutation research. Fundamental and molecular mechanisms of mutagenesis (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research
- National Institutes of Health (GMH79042, MOP38075)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cell Biology › Telomeres, Telomerase, and Senescence
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Aging › Genetics, Aging, and Longevity in Model Organisms
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Chromosomal and Genetic Variations
- Keywords
- telomere length measurement, real-time PCR, quantitative fluorescence in situ hybridization, method comparison, telomere biology
- MeSH terms
- Biotechnology, Flow Cytometry, Genetic Techniques, Humans, Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length, Weights and Measures, Polymerase Chain Reaction, Telomere, In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence
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