Telomere length assessments using whole-genome sequencing data
Telomere length estimates were significantly different across bioinformatic approaches (H = 230.06, df = 2, p< 0.001, Figure 2). A post-hoc Dunn test between telomere lengths estimated by Computel, K-Seek, and TRIP indicates significant differences for all pairwise comparisons (p < 0.001). On average, telomere length estimates using Computel (4,144 ± 796 bp) were substantially lower than K-seek (35,487 ± 11,326 bp) and TRIP (57,604 ± 17,393 bp). However, while the three bioinformatic approaches produced different telomere length estimates on average, there was substantial correlation between values estimated for individual genotypes (Figure S3). Correlations between genotype measures were lowest for Computel and K-seek (r = 0.86), but greater for Computel and TRIP (r = 0.88), and K-seek and TRIP (r = 0.99). This suggests that despite variability in the average length calculation there is a correlation between telomere length calculated across approaches. This may suggest that differences in the parameters included in the bioinformatics package, including the accounting for genome coverage and minimum number of consecutive telomeric repeats present in a read, may influence telomere length estimates on average, but telomere length calculated for the same genotype across approaches is largely correlated. Indeed, after correcting for genome coverage (Equation 2) pairwise correlations between genotype measures increased (Figure S4), but telomere length estimates were significantly different across bioinformatic approaches (H = 246.59, df = 2, p< 0.001, Figure S5). Importantly, K-seek (1,423 ± 300.65 bp) and TRIP (2,315± 451.67 bp) exhibit substantially shorter telomere length estimates after genome coverage correction.