TY - JOUR
T1 - Experimental and Computational Approaches to Measure Telomere Length
T2 - Recent Advances and Future Directions
AU - Ferrer, Alejandro
AU - Stephens, Zachary D.
AU - Kocher, Jean Pierre A.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s).
PY - 2023/12
Y1 - 2023/12
N2 - Purpose of Review: The length of telomeres, protective structures at the chromosome ends, is a well-established biomarker for pathological conditions including multisystemic syndromes called telomere biology disorders. Approaches to measure telomere length (TL) differ on whether they estimate average, distribution, or chromosome-specific TL, and each presents their own advantages and limitations. Recent Findings: The development of long-read sequencing and publication of the telomere-to-telomere human genome reference has allowed for scalable and high-resolution TL estimation in pre-existing sequencing datasets but is still impractical as a dedicated TL test. As sequencing costs continue to fall and strategies for selectively enriching telomere regions prior to sequencing improve, these approaches may become a promising alternative to classic methods. Summary: Measurement methods rely on probe hybridization, qPCR or more recently, computational methods using sequencing data. Refinements of existing techniques and new approaches have been recently developed but a test that is accurate, simple, and scalable is still lacking.
AB - Purpose of Review: The length of telomeres, protective structures at the chromosome ends, is a well-established biomarker for pathological conditions including multisystemic syndromes called telomere biology disorders. Approaches to measure telomere length (TL) differ on whether they estimate average, distribution, or chromosome-specific TL, and each presents their own advantages and limitations. Recent Findings: The development of long-read sequencing and publication of the telomere-to-telomere human genome reference has allowed for scalable and high-resolution TL estimation in pre-existing sequencing datasets but is still impractical as a dedicated TL test. As sequencing costs continue to fall and strategies for selectively enriching telomere regions prior to sequencing improve, these approaches may become a promising alternative to classic methods. Summary: Measurement methods rely on probe hybridization, qPCR or more recently, computational methods using sequencing data. Refinements of existing techniques and new approaches have been recently developed but a test that is accurate, simple, and scalable is still lacking.
KW - Long read sequencing
KW - Optical genome mapping
KW - Short read sequencing
KW - Single telomere absolute-length rapid assay
KW - Telomere
KW - Telomere combing assay
KW - Telomere restriction fragment
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U2 - 10.1007/s11899-023-00717-4
DO - 10.1007/s11899-023-00717-4
M3 - Review article
C2 - 37947937
AN - SCOPUS:85176577668
SN - 1558-8211
VL - 18
SP - 284
EP - 291
JO - Current Hematologic Malignancy Reports
JF - Current Hematologic Malignancy Reports
IS - 6
ER -