Diagram 1.

Schematic diagram of region amplified by short and long target using the S-XL-qRT-PCR DNA damage assay within C. elegans mitochondrial genome. The short target (71 bp) is represented by a green arrow and the long amplicon (6300 bp) is represented by the red arrow. The short target is too short and is much less affected by DNA damage, therefore can be used as an approximation for the undamaged DNA while the long target is used for DNA quantification as the probability of encountering DNA lesions increases with template size and this long amplicon amplifies the majority of the C. elegans mitochondrial genome.