Correlation of TERT expression levels with incorporation of TSQ1 repeats in HeLa and HeLa POT1-ΔOB cells.

A. Representative images of HeLa cells with robust TERT expression and either robust TSQ1 incorporation (upper panel of images) or no TSQ1 incorporation (lower panel of images). Arrows indicate TSQ1 spots that co-localize with telomeres. Enlarged images of the boxed regions are in the lower right-hand corner of each corresponding image. Scale bars denote 10μM. B Scatter plot demonstrating the correlation between TSQ1 incorporation and TERT expression in HeLa (left panel) and HeLa POT1-ΔOB cells (right panel). 171 cells from at least 2 separate experiments were assayed for each group. C. Swarm plots showing number of TSQ1 spots co-localizing with telomeres (left panel) and RNAscope TERT expression (right panel) in HeLa cells and HeLa cells overexpressing POT1-ΔOB. 171 cells from at least 2 separate experiments were assayed for each group. Means (horizontal black lines) and SEM (red lines) are shown for each population. P values are provided and significant differences are marked with asterisks, with ns denoting a non-significant difference. Of note, the HeLa cells quantified in this figure are the same as the cohort shown in Fig 4.