Insights into the length and breadth of methodologies harnessed to study human telomeres
News release 12th November 2024
Team members from the Molecular Epidemiology and Public Health group (Tiernan Coulter, Dr Claire Hill and Prof AJ McKnight) have recently published an editorial in Biomarker Research:
Insights into the length and breadth of methodologies harnessed to study human telomeres This editorial is freely available online at doi: 10.1186/s40364-024-00668-9
Graphical summary created in BioRender. Coulter T., Hill C., and McKnight AJ. (2024), available at: https://BioRender.com/c82j932
Summary:
DNA, our genetic code, is stored and condensed into structures called chromosomes. Generally, humans have 23 chromosome pairs. Chromosomes have protective caps, called telomeres, to help protect our DNA from degradation. Telomeres are similar to the plastic tips on shoelaces, which prevent them from fraying.
Why do we want to study telomeres? As we age, telomeres naturally shorten, with this shortening believed to play a role in the onset of progression of some diseases, such as kidney disease.
How do we study telomeres? There are a number of different ways to measure telomere length. This editorial highlights strengths and limitations of a number of methods. Methods discussed include more traditional methods such as Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR), which is a quick and relatively straightforward method. Also discussed are state-of-the-art methods, such as long-read sequencing, which is facilitating telomere measurements at a very high resolution, measuring telomere length for each chromosome end.
What are the challenges of studying telomeres? There is no one-size-fits all approach. This editorial aims to signpost researchers towards key tools. This editorial also highlights the need for guidelines and consistent methods, to aid the comparison of results between research groups.
Funding:
This work was supported by a Northern Ireland Kidney Research Fund Janet Greeves student training grant, which supported Tiernan Coulter’s summer studentship in the Molecular Epidemiology and Public Health lab in summer 2023.
This work was also supported by Science Foundation Ireland and the Department for the Economy, Northern Ireland Investigator Program Partnership Award (15/IA/3152), US-Ireland R&D Partnership Programmes by HSC R&D division (STL/5569/19; STL/5586/19), Kidney Research UK and The Stoneygate Trust (KS_RP_007_20190919), UKRI (MRC MC_PC_20026), NIH (R01DK132299) and NIA (R01AG068937).
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