Telomere Length Inheritance and Shortening in Trisomy 21.

Trisomy 21 is a genetic disorder that shows premature aging symptoms. As an aging marker, telomere length is therefore of importance in trisomy families. We included 63 maternally originated trisomy 21 and 77 control families with infants in the first data set; 48 trisomy 21 and 60 control children in the second set; and 14 paternally originated trisomy 21 families in the third data set. We used Southern blot to measure the telomere length. (1) Offsprings' telomere length increased with parents' age ( < .0001). (2) Trisomy 21 infants had longer telomere than the controls ( < .0001). (3) Post-birth, the telomere attrition rate was higher in cases than in controls (58 bps/year vs. 38 bps/year). (1) Our data supports the older parents-longer gamete telomere hypothesis. (2) Trisomy 21 patients are born with longer telomeres, (3) with advancing trisomy 21 age, the telomere shortens more quickly than euploids.