Telomere dynamics parameters inferred from mathematical modeling of telomere length distribution

A mathematical model of telomere shortening and elongation by telomerase, framed as an ergodic Markov chain with an explicit steady-state distribution, can uniquely infer the biochemical parameters governing telomere length dynamics from long-read sequencing data. The pipeline, verified on synthetic data with known parameters and on wild-type and mutant yeast telomere regulator strains, revealed diverse regulation parameters across 66 natural Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains and chromosome-end-specific regulation in some cases.