Human length telomeres restrict the regenerative potential of hematopoietic stem cells in mice

Extremely short telomeres cause bone marrow failure in telomere biology disorder (TBDs) patients. Here, we employed the recently developed Telomouse with human-length telomeres resulting from a single amino acid substitution in the helicase Rtel1 (Rtel1M492K/M492K) to determine the effects of the short telomeres on the bone marrow and hematopoiesis. Under homeostatic conditions, Telomice have notably short telomeres but normal hematopoiesis. However, when forced to repopulate following repeated treatment with 5-fluoro-uracil or upon bone marrow transplantation into lethally irradiated mice, bone marrow progenitor cells are significantly depleted in Telomice compared to wild-type controls. This effect is associated with increased frequency of telomere repeat arrays too short to be detected by fluorescence in situ hybridization in the bone marrow of Telomice.