The Genetic Basis of Natural Variation in Caenorhabditis elegans Telomere Length. Issue 1 (1st September 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Cook, Daniel E; Zdraljevic, Stefan; Tanny, Robyn E; Seo, Beomseok; Riccardi, David D; Noble, Luke M; Rockman, Matthew V; Alkema, Mark J; Braendle, Christian; Kammenga, Jan E; Wang, John; Kruglyak, Leonid; Félix, Marie-Anne; Lee, Junho; Andersen, Erik C
• Is Part Of: Genetics. Volume 204:Issue 1(2016)
• Page Start: 371
• Page End: 383
• Publication Date: 2016-09-01
• Subjects: Caenorhabditis elegans -- QTL -- shelterin -- telomere length -- whole-genome sequence; Genetics -- Periodicals; 576.5
• DOI: 10.1534/genetics.116.191148
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0016-6731

Abstract

Abstract: Telomeres are involved in the maintenance of chromosomes and the prevention of genome instability. Despite this central importance, significant variation in telomere length has been observed in a variety of organisms. The genetic determinants of telomere-length variation and their effects on organismal fitness are largely unexplored. Here, we describe natural variation in telomere length across the Caenorhabditis elegans species. We identify a large-effect variant that contributes to differences in telomere length. The variant alters the conserved oligonucleotide/oligosaccharide-binding fold of protection of telomeres 2 (POT-2 ), a homolog of a human telomere-capping shelterin complex subunit. Mutations within this domain likely reduce the ability of POT-2 to bind telomeric DNA, thereby increasing telomere length. We find that telomere-length variation does not correlate with offspring production or longevity in C. elegans wild isolates, suggesting that naturally long telomeres play a limited role in modifying fitness phenotypes in C. elegans .