High-throughput telomere length measurement at nucleotide resolution using the PacBio high fidelity sequencing platform.

Telomeres are specialized nucleoprotein structures at the ends of linear chromosomes. The progressive shortening of steady-state telomere length in normal human somatic cells is a promising biomarker for age-associated diseases. However, there remain substantial challenges in quantifying telomere length due to the lack of high-throughput method with nucleotide resolution for individual telomere. Here, we describe a workflow to capture telomeres using newly designed telobaits in human culture cell lines as well as clinical patient samples and measure their length accurately at nucleotide resolution using single-molecule real-time (SMRT) sequencing. Our results also reveal the extreme heterogeneity of telomeric variant sequences (TVSs) that are dispersed throughout the telomere repeat region. The presence of TVSs disrupts the continuity of the canonical (5'-TTAGGG-3')n telomere repeats, which affects the binding of shelterin complexes at the chromosomal ends and telomere protection. These findings may have profound implications in human aging and diseases.

A Unified and Desymmetric Approach to Chiral Tertiary Alkyl Halides.

Enantioenriched tertiary alkyl halides are prevalent in bioactive molecules and can serve as versatile synthetic intermediates to construct complex structures. While conventional access to these motifs often hinges on stereoselective carbon-halogen or carbon-carbon bond formation reactions, desymmetric approaches using halogenated and prochiral tetrasubstituted carbons are largely elusive in comparison. Here, we report that a suite of dinuclear zinc catalysts with a prolinol- or pipecolinol-derived tetradentate ligand can reductively desymmetrize a large collection of easily available halomalonic esters to α-halo-ß-hydroxyesters. These polyfunctionalized tertiary alkyl fluorides, chlorides, and bromides proved to be useful intermediates toward fluorinated drug analogs and polyhalogenated monoterpenes. The facile intramolecular epoxidation of the chiral chloride and bromide products has also enabled expeditious access to natural products containing tertiary alcohol motifs.