Ana Á. Romero-Haro, Ellis Mulder, Mark F. Haussmann, Barbara Tschirren
{"title":"The association between age and telomere length is age-dependent: Evidence for a threshold model of telomere length maintenance","authors":"Ana Á. Romero-Haro, Ellis Mulder, Mark F. Haussmann, Barbara Tschirren","doi":"10.1002/jez.2785","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Telomere length and dynamics are commonly used biomarkers of somatic state, yet the role of telomeres underlying the aging process is still debated. Indeed, to date, empirical evidence for an association between age and telomere length is mixed. Here, we test if the age-dependency of the association between age and telomere length can provide a potential explanation for the reported inconsistencies across studies. To this end, we quantified telomere length by telomere restriction fragment analysis in two groups of Japanese quail (<i>Coturnix japonica</i>) that differed in their age distribution. One group consisted of young adults only, whereas the second group consisted of adults across a wide range of ages. In the young adults group, there was a highly significant negative association between telomere length and age, whereas no association between age and telomere length was found in the all-ages adults group. This difference between groups was not due to telomere length-dependent selective disappearance. Our results shows that the association between telomere length and age is age-dependent and suggest that the costs and benefits associated with telomere maintenance are dynamic across an individual's life course.</p>","PeriodicalId":15711,"journal":{"name":"Journal of experimental zoology. Part A, Ecological and integrative physiology","volume":"341 4","pages":"338-344"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9000,"publicationDate":"2024-01-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/jez.2785","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of experimental zoology. Part A, Ecological and integrative physiology","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jez.2785","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ZOOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Telomere length and dynamics are commonly used biomarkers of somatic state, yet the role of telomeres underlying the aging process is still debated. Indeed, to date, empirical evidence for an association between age and telomere length is mixed. Here, we test if the age-dependency of the association between age and telomere length can provide a potential explanation for the reported inconsistencies across studies. To this end, we quantified telomere length by telomere restriction fragment analysis in two groups of Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) that differed in their age distribution. One group consisted of young adults only, whereas the second group consisted of adults across a wide range of ages. In the young adults group, there was a highly significant negative association between telomere length and age, whereas no association between age and telomere length was found in the all-ages adults group. This difference between groups was not due to telomere length-dependent selective disappearance. Our results shows that the association between telomere length and age is age-dependent and suggest that the costs and benefits associated with telomere maintenance are dynamic across an individual's life course.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Experimental Zoology – A publishes articles at the interface between Development, Physiology, Ecology and Evolution. Contributions that help to reveal how molecular, functional and ecological variation relate to one another are particularly welcome. The Journal publishes original research in the form of rapid communications or regular research articles, as well as perspectives and reviews on topics pertaining to the scope of the Journal. Acceptable articles are limited to studies on animals.