Fig. 6: Telomere length homeostasis in mice during Tert^h/- intercrosses.

a Breeding strategy. Tert^h/- progeny from G4 Tert^h/- parents were intercrossed. b Telomere length as determined by Flow-FISH. Splenocytes from 2-month-old mice were used for the analyses. P value within the groups of G4.14, G4.15, and G4.16 was calculated using one-way ANOVA. c Body weight of 8-week-old male and female mice. d Litter sizes. e Testis weight of mice at 10–15-week age. f Flow-FISH comparing telomere lengths of Tert^h/h, Tert^h/-, and Tert^-/- littermates. Each datapoint in panels b–f represents one animal. Means ± SDs are shown. n ≥ 3. g TRF analysis. Splenocyte genomic DNAs were digested with HinfI and RsaI, followed by 0.6% Agarose gel electrophoresis and Southern blotting. Sizes are indicated on the left (kb). MW, molecular weight marker. NHF (P11), passage 11 normal human foreskin fibroblasts. A longer exposure is shown in Supplementary Fig. 8a. h Genotype ratios of progeny in intercrosses at 7, 21, and 56 postnatal days. n = 21 ~ 93. Source data for panels b–h are provided as Source Data files.