Contraction, erosion, and expansion of Sultan arrays. (A) The stabilized 10R Sultan array of tel-m2-1 capped by a telomere sequence is depicted in comparison to CC-4533. Nanopore reads, colored based on the element (as indicated in the schematic representation; black segments correspond to sequences that did not align to any of the selected queries) and anchored at the Spacer, are shown. (B) For each read, the starting position of the Sultan element adjoining the telomere sequence is recorded, and the overall distribution of counts over the length of a Sultan element is represented. (C) Schematic representation of contraction and expansion of stabilized Sultan arrays (top) and overall changes in Sultan number in stabilized Sultan arrays for tel-m1-1 and tel-m2‐1 (bottom). (D) Same as A with the unstable 2R Sultan array of tel-m2-1. (E) Same as B but for the unstable 2R Sultan array of tel-m2-1. (*) The first Sultan element in CC-4533 is partial.