Telomere length across human tissues

This piece, from investigators at The University of Chicago and other genetics centers, discusses the variation in telomere length (TL) across different tissue types: “we characterize variability in TLs from 6391 tissue samples, representing >20 tissue types and 952 individuals from the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) project. We describe differences across tissue types, positive correlation among tissue types, and associations with age and ancestry. We show that genetic variation affects TL in multiple tissue types and that TL may mediate the effect of age on gene expression. Our results provide the foundational knowledge regarding TL in healthy tissues that is needed to interpret epidemiological studies of TL and human health.”  MORE

 Image Credit:  The University of Chicago and Science.Sciencemag.org