A novel method for telomere length detection in fission yeast

Abstract Fission yeast is the ideal model organism for studying telomere maintenance in higher eukaryotes. Telomere length has been directly correlated with life expectancy and the onset of aging-related diseases in mammals. In this study, we developed a novel simple, and reproducible method to measure the telomere length, by investigating the effect of Caffeine and Cisplatin on the telomere length in fission yeast. Hydroxyurea synchronized fission yeast cells were exposed to 62 μM Cisplatin and 8.67 mM Caffeine treatments for 2 hours then their telomere lengths were evaluated with two different methods. first: the quantitative PCR assay was used as a confirmative method where telomere length was determined relative to a single copy gene in the genome. Second: the newly developed method standard PCR/ImageJ assay assessed the telomere length based on the amplified PCR band intensity using a set of telomere primers, reflecting telomeric sequence availability in the genome. Both methods show a significant decrease and a notable telomere lengthening in response to Cisplatin and Caffeine treatments respectively. The finding supports the accuracy and productivity of the standard PCR/ImageJ assay as it can serve as a quick screening tool to study the effect of suspected chemotherapeutic and anti-aging drugs on telomere length in fission yeast.