Abstract
Length is a functional parameter of telomeres, the nucleoprotein structures that protect chromosome ends. The availability of highly specific, high-affinity probes for telomeric repeated sequences allowed the development of quantitative approaches aimed at measuring telomere length directly on chromosomes or in interphase nuclei. Here, we describe a general method for telomere quantitative FISH on metaphase chromosomes and discuss its most common applications in research.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abdallah, P., Luciano, P., Runge, K. W., Lisby, M., Geli, V., Gilson, E., and Teixeira, M. T. (2009) A two-step model for senescence triggered by a single critically short telomere, Nat Cell Biol 11, 988 – 993.
Der-Sarkissian, H., Bacchetti, S., Cazes, L., and Londono-Vallejo, J. A. (2004) The shortest telomeres drive karyotype evolution in transformed cells, Oncogene 23, 1221–1228.
Hemann, M. T., Strong, M. A., Hao, L. Y., and Greider, C. W. (2001) The shortest telomere, not average telomere length, is critical for cell viability and chromosome stability, Cell 107, 67–77.
de Lange, T. (2005) Shelterin: the protein complex that shapes and safeguards human telomeres, Genes Dev 19, 2100 –2110.
Liu, D., O’Connor, M. S., Qin, J., and Songyang, Z. (2004) Telosome, a mammalian telomere-associated complex formed by multiple telomeric proteins, J Biol Chem 279, 51338 –51342.
Palm, W., and de Lange, T. (2008) How shelterin protects mammalian telomeres, Annu Rev Genet 42, 301–334.
de Lange, T. (2009) How telomeres solve the end-protection problem, Science 326, 948–952.
Lingner, J., Cooper, J. P., and Cech, T. R. (1995) Telomerase and DNA end replication: no longer a lagging strand problem? Science 269, 1533 –1534.
Hug, N., and Lingner, J. (2006) Telomere length homeostasis, Chromosoma.
Forsyth, N. R., Wright, W. E., and Shay, J. W. (2002) Telomerase and differentiation in multicellular organisms: Turn it off, turn it on, and turn it off again, Differentiation 69, 188 –197.
Shay, J. W., and Wright, W. E. (2005) Senescence and immortalization: role of telomeres and telomerase, Carcinogenesis 26, 867– 874.
Kappei, D., and Londono-Vallejo, J. A. (2008) Telomere length inheritance and aging, Mech Ageing Dev 129, 17– 26.
Armanios, M. (2009) Syndromes of telomere shortening, Annu Rev Genomics Hum Genet 10, 45 – 61.
Aubert, G., and Lansdorp, P. M. (2008) Telomeres and aging, Physiol Rev 88, 557–579.
Levy, M. Z., Allsopp, R. C., Futcher, A. B., Greider, C. W., and Harley, C. B. (1992) Telomere end-replication problem and cell aging, J Mol Biol 225, 951– 960.
Kipling, D., and Cooke, H. J. (1990) Hypervariable ultra-long telomeres in mice, Nature 347, 400 – 402.
Cawthon, R. M. (2009) Telomere length measurement by a novel monochrome multiplex quantitative PCR method, Nucleic Acids Res 37, e21.
Gil, M. E., and Coetzer, T. L. (2004) Real-time quantitative PCR of telomere length, Mol Biotechnol 27, 169 –172.
Zou, Y., Sfeir, A., Gryaznov, S. M., Shay, J. W., and Wright, W. E. (2004) Does a sentinel or a subset of short telomeres determine replicative senescence?, Mol Biol Cell 15, 3709 –3718.
Jeyapalan, J. C., Ferreira, M., Sedivy, J. M., and Herbig, U. (2007) Accumulation of senescent cells in mitotic tissue of aging primates, Mech Ageing Dev 128, 36 – 44.
Londono-Vallejo, J. A., DerSarkissian, H., Cazes, L., and Thomas, G. (2001) Differences in telomere length between homologous chromosomes in humans, Nucleic Acids Res 29, 3164 –3171.
Baird, D. M., Rowson, J., Wynford-Thomas, D., and Kipling, D. (2003) Extensive allelic variation and ultrashort telomeres in senescent human cells, Nat Genet 33, 203–207.
Lansdorp, P. M., Verwoerd, N. P., van de Rijke, F. M., Dragowska, V., Little, M. T., Dirks, R. W., Raap, A. K., and Tanke, H. J. (1996) Heterogeneity in telomere length of human chromosomes, Hum Mol Genet 5, 685– 691.
Graakjaer, J., Pascoe, L., Der-Sarkissian, H., Thomas, G., Kolvraa, S., Christensen, K., and Londoño-Vallejo, J. (2004) The relative lengths of individual telomeres are defined in the zygote and strictly maintained during life, Aging cell 3, 97–102.
Graakjaer, J., Der-Sarkissian, H., Schmitz, A., Bayer, J., Thomas, G., Kolvraa, S., and Londono-Vallejo, J. A. (2006) Allele-specific relative telomere lengths are inherited, Hum Genet 119, 344 –350.
Londono-Vallejo, J. A. (2004) Telomere length heterogeneity and chromosome instability, Cancer Lett 212, 135 –144.
Cerone, M. A., Londoño-Vallejo, J. A., and Bacchetti, S. (2001) Telomere maintenance by telomerase and by recombination can coexist in human cells, Hum Mol Genet 10, 1945 –1952.
Cerone, M. A., Ward, R. J., Londono-Vallejo, J. A., and Autexier, C. (2005) Telomerase RNA mutated in autosomal dyskeratosis congenita reconstitutes a weakly active telomerase enzyme defective in telomere elongation, Cell Cycle 4, 585 –589.
Marie-Egyptienne, D. T., Cerone, M. A., Londono-Vallejo, J. A., and Autexier, C. (2005) A human-Tetrahymena pseudoknot chimeric telomerase RNA reconstitutes a nonprocessive enzyme in vitro that is defective in telomere elongation, Nucleic Acids Res 33, 5446 –5457.
Poon, S. S., Martens, U. M., Ward, R. K., and Lansdorp, P. M. (1999) Telomere length measurements using digital fluorescence microscopy, Cytometry 36, 267–278.
Arnoult, N., Shin-Ya, K., and Londono-Vallejo, J. A. (2008) Studying telomere replication by Q-CO-FISH: the effect of telomestatin, a potent G-quadruplex ligand, Cytogenet Genome Res 122, 229–236.
Silahtaroglu, A., Pfundheller, H., Koshkin, A., Tommerup, N., and Kauppinen, S. (2004) LNA-modified oligonucleotides are highly efficient as FISH probes, Cytogenet Genome Res 107, 32–37.
Baird, D. M., Coleman, J., Rosser, Z. H., and Royle, N. J. (2000) High levels of sequence polymorphism and linkage disequilibrium at the telomere of 12q: implications for telomere biology and human evolution, Am J Hum Genet 66, 235 –250.
Coleman, J., Baird, D. M., and Royle, N. J. (1999) The plasticity of human telomeres demonstrated by a hypervariable telomere repeat array that is located on some copies of 16p and 16q, Hum Mol Genet 8, 1637–1646.
Gilson, E., and Londono-Vallejo, A. (2007) Telomere length profiles in humans: all ends are not equal, Cell Cycle 6, 2486 –2494.
Arnoult, N., Saintome, C., Ourliac-Garnier, I., Riou, J. F., and Londono-Vallejo, A. (2009) Human POT1 is required for efficient telomere C-rich strand replication in the absence of WRN, Genes Dev 23, 2915–2924.
Acknowledgments
Work in the Londoño laboratory is supported by “La Ligue contre le Cancer,” the “Fondation pour la Recherche Medicale, FRM,” the “Association pour la Recherche sur le Cancer, ARC.” I. O-G. is the recipient of a post-doctoral fellowship from Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR) and ARC.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this protocol
Cite this protocol
Ourliac-Garnier, I., Londoño-Vallejo, A. (2011). Telomere Length Analysis by Quantitative Fluorescent In situ Hybridization (Q-FISH). In: Songyang, Z. (eds) Telomeres and Telomerase. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 735. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-092-8_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-092-8_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Humana Press
Print ISBN: 978-1-61779-091-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-61779-092-8
eBook Packages: Springer Protocols