Analysis of Telomeres and Telomerase

This unit describes techniques to analyze telomeric length and telomerase activity in human cells. Telomere length can be determined by a modification of Southern blotting in which the analysis of chromosome terminal restriction fragments (TRFs) provides the average lengths of all telomeres in a cell population. Telomerase activity can be measured in vitro by a sensitive and efficient polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based detection method, also...