Measuring telomere length - from ends to means

Abstract

Telomeres are ribonucleoproteid complexes capping the ends of linear genomes and protecting them from attrition and fusion. The rate of telomere shortening is related to cellular aging and a loss of telomere length is observed in a significant proportion of human diseases and conditions. Telomerase activity may serve as a useful marker for capacity for self-renewal and potential for differentiation in stem cells. The present paper reviews the present-day methods for measuring telomere length in cell populations and/or assessment of telomerase activity - Southern hybridisation, flow cytometry/Flow FISH, real-time PCR and some less popular methods such as TRAP analysis and STELA, assessing the advantages and weaknesses of each method and outlining the possible fields of application.