Figure 4.
Figure 4. Impact of RTEL1 variants on telomere maintenance. (A) Normalized single-strand 3′ overhang measurement by nondenaturing Southern blot of patients from the NIH cohort and 2 siblings of NIH-5 (S1- and S2-NIH5). Relative 3′ overhang signals were determined by normalizing the sum of chemiluminescent signal (ΣODi) from each column in the nondenaturing membrane (overhang signals) by the telomeric signal in the denatured membrane (representing total genomic DNA). The background signal (sample treated with Exo1) was subtracted from total ΣODi for all the samples. Error bars represent the standard deviations of independent experiments. Patients’ 3′ overhang signals were then normalized by an average of 3′ overhang signals from healthy individuals used as a control in every experiment and plotted. The 3′ overhang signals of patients below a 95% confidence interval of 3′ overhang measurements from controls (gray interval in the graphic) were considered eroded. (B) Normalized single-strand 3′ overhang measurement of 14 patients from the NIH cohort without RTEL1 variants in which DNA was available. Three patients had telomeric overhangs below a 95% confidence interval of healthy controls that were considered short. (C) Western blot analysis. (Left) Whole extracts of bulk 293T cells stably expressing recombinant RTEL1-FLAG wild-type or one of the following RTEL1 variants: M652T, D719N, G951S, and F1262L. Control used was 293T infected with an empty vector. (Right) Whole extracts (input) of isolated RTEL1-FLAG WT or 293T clones with the P82L, M652T, D719N, G951S, and F1262L variants were immunoprecipitated with anti-FLAG to evaluate RTEL1 and TRF2 interaction. Protein expression was analyzed with antibodies as indicated. (D) TRF2 expression in both bulk-infected 293T cells and isolated clones normalized by the control (empty vector). Error bars represent the standard deviations between TRF2 expression in bulk 293T and isolated clones. (E) Clustergram of the telomere biology gene expression levels in 4 patients with RTEL1 variants from the NIH cohort and 2 controls using the RT2 Profiler PCR array system (Qiagen). Control samples were used as a reference for normalization. For comparison, the RTEL1 and TRF2 fold-change expression in relation to controls were plotted and shown in the graphic below the heatmap. The RTEL1 gene expression was validated by real-time PCR using a Taqman probe that detected the boundary of exon 7-8 in all isoforms and another probe that detected the RING domain in isoform 3. (F) Phi29-dependent t-circle amplification assay in patients’ peripheral blood. The t-circles were detected in a lower amount in patients with heterozygous variants than in biallelic patients. The asymptomatic mother of NIH-2 (P1-NIH2) and a healthy control (CT1) presented the highest number of t-circles. DNA extracted from VA13 cells was used as a control of the assay. IPP, immunoprecipitation; RT-PCR, reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction.

Impact of RTEL1 variants on telomere maintenance. (A) Normalized single-strand 3′ overhang measurement by nondenaturing Southern blot of patients from the NIH cohort and 2 siblings of NIH-5 (S1- and S2-NIH5). Relative 3′ overhang signals were determined by normalizing the sum of chemiluminescent signal (ΣODi) from each column in the nondenaturing membrane (overhang signals) by the telomeric signal in the denatured membrane (representing total genomic DNA). The background signal (sample treated with Exo1) was subtracted from total ΣODi for all the samples. Error bars represent the standard deviations of independent experiments. Patients’ 3′ overhang signals were then normalized by an average of 3′ overhang signals from healthy individuals used as a control in every experiment and plotted. The 3′ overhang signals of patients below a 95% confidence interval of 3′ overhang measurements from controls (gray interval in the graphic) were considered eroded. (B) Normalized single-strand 3′ overhang measurement of 14 patients from the NIH cohort without RTEL1 variants in which DNA was available. Three patients had telomeric overhangs below a 95% confidence interval of healthy controls that were considered short. (C) Western blot analysis. (Left) Whole extracts of bulk 293T cells stably expressing recombinant RTEL1-FLAG wild-type or one of the following RTEL1 variants: M652T, D719N, G951S, and F1262L. Control used was 293T infected with an empty vector. (Right) Whole extracts (input) of isolated RTEL1-FLAG WT or 293T clones with the P82L, M652T, D719N, G951S, and F1262L variants were immunoprecipitated with anti-FLAG to evaluate RTEL1 and TRF2 interaction. Protein expression was analyzed with antibodies as indicated. (D) TRF2 expression in both bulk-infected 293T cells and isolated clones normalized by the control (empty vector). Error bars represent the standard deviations between TRF2 expression in bulk 293T and isolated clones. (E) Clustergram of the telomere biology gene expression levels in 4 patients with RTEL1 variants from the NIH cohort and 2 controls using the RT2 Profiler PCR array system (Qiagen). Control samples were used as a reference for normalization. For comparison, the RTEL1 and TRF2 fold-change expression in relation to controls were plotted and shown in the graphic below the heatmap. The RTEL1 gene expression was validated by real-time PCR using a Taqman probe that detected the boundary of exon 7-8 in all isoforms and another probe that detected the RING domain in isoform 3. (F) Phi29-dependent t-circle amplification assay in patients’ peripheral blood. The t-circles were detected in a lower amount in patients with heterozygous variants than in biallelic patients. The asymptomatic mother of NIH-2 (P1-NIH2) and a healthy control (CT1) presented the highest number of t-circles. DNA extracted from VA13 cells was used as a control of the assay. IPP, immunoprecipitation; RT-PCR, reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction.

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