Telomere dynamins predict mortality in a life-long longitudinal wild study

Barrett, Emma L. B., Burke, Terry A., Hammers, Martijn, Komdeur, Jan and Richardson, David S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7226-9074 (2013) Telomere dynamins predict mortality in a life-long longitudinal wild study. Molecular Ecology, 22 (1). pp. 249-259. ISSN 0962-1083

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Abstract

Explaining variation in life expectancy between individuals of the same age is fundamental to our understanding of population ecology and life history evolution. Variation in the length and rate of loss of the protective telomere chromosome caps has been linked to cellular lifespan. Yet, the extent to which telomere length and dynamics predict organismal lifespan in nature is still contentious. Using longitudinal samples taken from a closed population of Acrocephalus sechellensis (Seychelles warblers) studied for over 20 years, we describe the ?rst study into life-long adult telomere dynamics (1–17 years) and their relationship to mortality under natural conditions (n = 204 individuals). We show that telomeres shorten with increasing age and body mass, and that shorter telomeres and greater rates of telomere shortening predicted future mortality. Our results provide the ?rst clear and unambiguous evidence of a relationship between telomere length and mortality in the wild, and substantiate the prediction that telomere length and shortening rate can act as an indicator of biological age further to chronological age when exploring life history questions in natural conditions.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	sdg 3 - good health and well-being ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/good_health_and_well_being
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Science > School of Biological Sciences
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Organisms and the Environment
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	06 Jul 2013 08:52
Last Modified:	17 May 2023 00:47
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/42698
DOI:	10.1111/mec.12110

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