Figure 1

Telomere shortening induces micronuclei formation and transposon mobilization.

(A) Quantification of mean telomere length measured by TRF analysis in the skin (n_WT = 5, n_tert-/- = 5, n_sting-/- = 5, n_{tert-/- sting-/-} = 4, WT vs tert-/-p = 0.017, tert-/- vs sting-/-p = 0.002, sting-/- vs tert-/- sting-/-p = 0.008). (B) Quantification of mean telomere length measured by TRF analysis in the testis (n_WT = 4, n_tert-/- = 6, n_sting-/- = 5, n_{tert-/- sting-/-} = 6, WT vs tert-/- sting-/-p = 0.008). (C) Quantification of mean telomere length measured by TRF analysis in the kidney marrow (n_WT = 3, n_tert-/- = 4, n_sting-/- = 7, n_{tert-/- sting-/-} = 7, WT vs tert-/-p = 0.000003, WT vs tert-/- sting-/-p = 0.0008, tert-/- vs sting-/-p = 0.000001, sting-/- vs tert-/- sting-/-p = 0.0005, tert-/- vs tert-/- sting-/-p = 0.003). (D) Quantification of mean telomere length measured by TRF analysis in the intestine (n_WT = 6, n_tert-/- = 6, n_sting-/- = 6, n_{tert-/- sting-/-} = 6, WT vs tert-/-p = 0.0007, WT vs tert-/- sting-/-p = 0.015, tert-/- vs sting-/-p = 0.0004, sting-/- vs tert-/- sting-/-p = 0.008). In each boxplot (A–D), the boxes represent the interquartile range (IQR; 25th to 75th percentile). Inside each box, the horizontal line indicates the median. The whiskers extend to the most extreme data points (minima and maxima) within 1.5 × IQR from the quartiles. (E) Representative immunofluorescence images and quantifications of MN formation in the fibroblasts derived from skin (n_WT = 1, n_tert-/- = 1, n_sting-/- = 1, n_{tert-/- sting-/-} = 1, WT vs tert-/-p = 0.040, WT vs tert-/- sting-/-p = 0.034, tert-/- vs sting-/-p = 0.047, sting-/- vs tert-/- sting-/-p = 0.040). The yellow arrows point at the micronuclei. Scale bar = 5 µm. (F) Representative western blot images and quantification of H3K9me3 in the skin (n_WT = 6, n_tert-/- = 6, WT vs tert-/-p = 0.032). (G) RT-qPCR analysis of ltr-2 gene expression (n_WT = 3, n_tert-/- = 3, WT vs tert-/-p = 0.038). Data in Fig. 1E–G are presented as the mean ± s.e.m.; *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, using a one-way ANOVA and post hoc Tukey test (panel A–E), or unpaired t-test (panel F, G). Source data are available online for this figure.