Table 1. Comparison of STAR assay with other telomere length measurement methods.
TL, telomere length.
| Method |
Amount of starting material |
Processing time | Throughput | Dynamic range | TL distribution | Absolute length |
| TRF (7) | >1 μg | 2 days | 32 samples | 0.8–20 kb | Yes (semiquantitative) |
Yes |
| qPCR (10) | ~20 ng | <2 hours | 96 samples | Measures relative length |
No | No |
| Metaphase Q-FISH (12) |
15 to 20 metaphase cells |
2 days | 10 samples per week |
0.15–80 kb | Yes | Yes |
| High-throughput interphase Q-FISH (13) |
10,000 cells | 2 days | 96 samples | 0.2–80 kb | Yes | Yes |
| STELA, U-STELA, TeSLA (17–19) |
100 to 250 pg | 2 days | 32 samples | 0.4–20 kb | Yes, for short telomeres |
Yes |
| STAR | <1 ng | <3 hours | 48 samples | 0.2–320 kb | Yes | Yes |