Telomere length correlation estimated by qPCR and WGS.
Pearson correlations were used to quantify the relationship between telomere length estimated using qPCR and WGS data. Telomere length estimates from qPCR range between 2.06 to 0.67-fold change (Table S1). Telomere length calculated using Computel, K-seek and TRIP were all positively correlated with values calculated using qPCR (Fig 3). However, calculations based on Computel (r = 0.66, p< 0.001, Fig. 3A) were more strongly correlated than those observed for TRIP (r = 0.52, p < 0.001, Fig. 3B) or K-seek (r = 0.50, p < 0.001, Fig. 3C). Computel incorporates genome coverage into telomere length calculations, suggesting that genome coverage might be important to telomere length quantification. Indeed, after correcting for genome coverage in telomere estimates using K-seek and TRIP, re-assessed correlations were greater for both K-seek (r = 0.62, p < 0.001, Figure 4A) and TRIP (r = 0.66, p < 0.001, Figure 4B). Additionally, telomere estimates from K-seek and TRIP (Equation1) have a strong correlation with genome coverage (r = 0.81). These results point toward the importance of considering genome coverage when calculating telomere length using WGS.