scholarly journals Telomere length in house sparrows increases in early-life and can be paternally inherited

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie Bennett ◽  
Antje Girndt ◽  
Alfredo Sánchez-Tójar ◽  
Terry Burke ◽  
Mirre J. P. Simons ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Telomere Length ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Passer Domesticus ◽  
Age Effects ◽  
Parental Age ◽  
House Sparrows ◽  
Older Parents ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Ageing Rate ◽  
Insight Into

Offspring of older parents in many species display decreased longevity, a faster ageing rate and lower fecundity than offspring born to younger parents. Biomarkers, such as telomeres, that tend to shorten as individual age, may provide insight into the mechanisms of parental age effects. Parental age could determine telomere length either through inheritance of shortened telomeres or through indirect effects, such as variation in parental care with parent ages, which in turn might lead to variation in offspring telomere length. There is no current consensus as to the heritability of telomere length, and the direction and extent of parental age effects however. To address this, here we experimentally investigate how parental age is associated with telomere length at two time points in early life in a captive population of house sparrows (Passer domesticus). We experimentally separated parental age from sex effects by allowing the parent birds to only mate with young, or old partners. We found that telomere length of the offspring increased between the age of 0.5 and 3 months at the group and individual level, which has been reported previously predominantly in non-avian taxa. We further show that older fathers produced daughters with a greater early-life increase in telomere length, supporting sex-specific inheritance, and or sex-specific non-genetic effects. Overall, our results highlight the need for more studies testing early-life telomere dynamics and sex-specific heritability of telomere length.

scholarly journals Inbreeding is associated with shorter early-life telomere length in a wild passerine

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Le Pepke ◽  
Alina K. Niskanen ◽  
Thomas Kvalnes ◽  
Winnie Boner ◽  
Bernt-Erik Sæther ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Telomere Length ◽  
Inbreeding Depression ◽  
Dna Sequences ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Physiological State ◽  
Passer Domesticus ◽  
Early Life History ◽  
Small Island ◽  
Isolated Populations ◽  
House Sparrows

ABSTRACTInbreeding can have negative effects on survival and reproduction, which may be of conservation concern in small and isolated populations. However, the physiological mechanisms underlying inbreeding depression are not well-known. The length of telomeres, the DNA sequences protecting chromosome ends, has been associated with health or fitness in several species. We investigated effects of inbreeding on early-life telomere length in two small island populations of wild house sparrows (Passer domesticus) known to be affected by inbreeding depression. Using genomic and pedigree-based measures of inbreeding we found that inbred nestling house sparrows have shorter telomeres. This negative effect of inbreeding on telomere length may have been complemented by a heterosis effect resulting in longer telomeres in individuals that were less inbred than the population average. Furthermore, we found some evidence of stronger effects of inbreeding on telomere length in males than females. Thus, telomere length may reveal subtle costs of inbreeding in the wild and demonstrate a route by which inbreeding negatively impacts the physiological state of an organism already at early life-history stages.

scholarly journals Reduced telomere length in offspring of old fathers in a long-lived seabird

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 20180213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Bouwhuis ◽  
Simon Verhulst ◽  
Christina Bauch ◽  
Oscar Vedder
Keyword(s):  
Telomere Length ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Significant Negative Correlation ◽  
Paternal Age ◽  
Lifetime Reproductive Success ◽  
Parental Age ◽  
Germline Stem Cells ◽  
Base Pairs ◽  
Older Parents ◽  
The Relationship

Evidence for transgenerational effects of senescence, whereby offspring from older parents have a reduced lifetime reproductive success, is increasing. Such effects could arise from compromised germline maintenance in old parents, potentially reflected in reduced telomere length in their offspring. We test the relationship between parental age and offspring early-life telomere length in a natural population of common terns and find a significant negative correlation between paternal age and offspring telomere length. Offspring telomere length is reduced by 35 base pairs for each additional year of paternal age. We find no correlation with maternal age. These results fit with the idea of compromised germline maintenance in males, whose germline stem cells require continued division.

scholarly journals Traffic noise exposure affects telomere length in nestling house sparrows

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 20150559 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alizée Meillère ◽  
François Brischoux ◽  
Cécile Ribout ◽  
Frédéric Angelier
Keyword(s):  
Telomere Length ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Noise Exposure ◽  
Traffic Noise ◽  
Passer Domesticus ◽  
Anthropogenic Noise ◽  
House Sparrows ◽  
Acoustic Environment ◽  
Fledging Success ◽  
The Impact

In a consistently urbanizing world, anthropogenic noise has become almost omnipresent, and there are increasing evidence that high noise levels can have major impacts on wildlife. While the effects of anthropogenic noise exposure on adult animals have been widely studied, surprisingly, there has been little consideration of the effects of noise pollution on developing organisms. Yet, environmental conditions experienced in early life can have dramatic lifelong consequences for fitness. Here, we experimentally manipulated the acoustic environment of free-living house sparrows ( Passer domesticus ) breeding in nest boxes. We focused on the impact of such disturbance on nestlings’ telomere length and fledging success, as telomeres (the protective ends of chromosomes) appear to be a promising predictor of longevity. We showed that despite the absence of any obvious immediate consequences (growth and fledging success), nestlings reared under traffic noise exposure exhibited reduced telomere lengths compared with their unexposed neighbours. Although the mechanisms responsible for this effect remain to be determined, our results provide the first experimental evidence that noise alone can affect a wild vertebrate's early-life telomere length. This suggests that noise exposure may entail important costs for developing organisms.

Parental Age and Schizophrenia

1966 ◽  
Vol 112 (490) ◽  
pp. 899-905 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. L. Granville-Grossman
Keyword(s):  
Maternal Age ◽  
Age Effect ◽  
Age Effects ◽  
Paternal Age ◽  
Considerable Importance ◽  
Parental Age ◽  
Advanced Paternal Age ◽  
Older Parents ◽  
Maternal Age Effect ◽  
Environmental Causes

Reports that schizophrenics have older parents than non-schizophrenics (Barry, 1945; Goodman, 1957; Johanson, 1958; Gregory, 1959) are of considerable importance. If valid, they provide evidence for environmental causes of schizophrenia, and by analogy with other conditions where parental age effects have been noted may give some indication of the nature of these causes. There are, however, inconsistencies in these studies: thus Johanson and Gregory found a significant association between advanced paternal age and schizophrenia, but failed to confirm the maternal age effect noted by Barry and Goodman. These differences indicate the need for further investigation and this paper describes such a study.

scholarly journals Slowing down the metabolic engine: impact of early-life corticosterone exposure on adult metabolism in house sparrows (Passer domesticus)

2019 ◽  
Vol 222 (22) ◽  
pp. jeb211771 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie M. Dupont ◽  
Jacquelyn K. Grace ◽  
Olivier Lourdais ◽  
François Brischoux ◽  
Frédéric Angelier
Keyword(s):  
Early Life ◽  
Passer Domesticus ◽  
House Sparrows ◽  
Slowing Down

scholarly journals Experimental demonstration that offspring fathered by old males have shorter telomeres and reduced lifespans

2018 ◽  
Vol 285 (1874) ◽  
pp. 20180268 ◽  
Author(s):  
José C. Noguera ◽  
Neil B. Metcalfe ◽  
Pat Monaghan
Keyword(s):  
Zebra Finch ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Experimental Approach ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Parental Age ◽  
Experimental Demonstration ◽  
Paternal Effects ◽  
Differential Survival ◽  
Older Parents ◽  
Results Reporting

Offspring of older parents frequently show reduced longevity, but the mechanisms driving this so-called ‘Lansing effect' are unknown. While inheritance of short telomeres from older parents could underlie this effect, studies to date in different species have found mixed results, reporting positive, negative or no association between parental age and offspring telomere length (TL). However, most of the existing evidence is from non-experimental studies in which it is difficult to exclude alternative explanations such as differential survival of parents with different telomere lengths. Here we provide evidence in the zebra finch that offspring from older parents have reduced lifespans. As a first step in disentangling possible causes, we used an experimental approach to examine whether or not we could detect pre-natal paternal effects on offspring TL. We found that zebra finch embryos fathered by old males have shorter telomeres than those produced by the same mothers but with younger fathers. Since variation in embryonic TL persists into post-natal life, and early life TL is predictive of longevity in this species, this experimental study demonstrates that a paternally driven pre-natal TL reduction could at least in part underlie the reduced lifespan of offspring from older parents.

scholarly journals No evidence for parental age effects on offspring leukocyte telomere length in free-living Soay sheep

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Froy ◽  
E. J. Bird ◽  
R. V. Wilbourn ◽  
J. Fairlie ◽  
S. L. Underwood ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Telomere Length ◽  
Age Effects ◽  
Leukocyte Telomere Length ◽  
Parental Age ◽  
Free Living ◽  
Soay Sheep

scholarly journals Longer telomeres during early life predict higher lifetime reproductive success in females but not males

2021 ◽  
Vol 288 (1951) ◽  
pp. 20210560
Author(s):  
Britt J. Heidinger ◽  
Aurelia C. Kucera ◽  
Jeff D. Kittilson ◽  
David F. Westneat
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Telomere Length ◽  
Dna Sequences ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Passer Domesticus ◽  
Population Variation ◽  
Lifetime Reproductive Success ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Telomere Loss ◽  
Telomere Dynamics

The mechanisms that contribute to variation in lifetime reproductive success are not well understood. One possibility is that telomeres, conserved DNA sequences at chromosome ends that often shorten with age and stress exposures, may reflect differences in vital processes or influence fitness. Telomere length often predicts longevity, but longevity is only one component of fitness and little is known about how lifetime reproductive success is related to telomere dynamics in wild populations. We examined the relationships between telomere length beginning in early life, telomere loss into adulthood and lifetime reproductive success in free-living house sparrows ( Passer domesticus ). We found that females, but not males, with longer telomeres during early life had higher lifetime reproductive success, owing to associations with longevity and not reproduction per year or attempt. Telomeres decreased with age in both sexes, but telomere loss was not associated with lifetime reproductive success. In this species, telomeres may reflect differences in quality or condition rather than the pace of life, but only in females. Sexually discordant selection on telomeres is expected to influence the stability and maintenance of within population variation in telomere dynamics and suggests that any role telomeres play in mediating life-history trade-offs may be sex specific.

scholarly journals Longitudinal evidence that older parents produce offspring with longer telomeres in a wild social bird

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Antony M. Brown ◽  
Emma M. Wood ◽  
Pablo Capilla-Lasheras ◽  
Xavier A. Harrison ◽  
Andrew J. Young
Keyword(s):  
Telomere Length ◽  
Individual Variation ◽  
Age Effect ◽  
Parental Age ◽  
Offspring Survival ◽  
Older Parents ◽  
Telomere Attrition ◽  
Offspring Fitness ◽  
Generational Effects ◽  
Modest Effect

As telomere length (TL) often predicts survival and lifespan, there is considerable interest in the origins of inter-individual variation in TL. Cross-generational effects of parental age on offspring TL are thought to be a key source of variation, but the rarity of longitudinal studies that examine the telomeres of successive offspring born throughout the lives of parents leaves such effects poorly understood. Here, we exploit TL measures of successive offspring produced throughout the long breeding tenures of parents in wild white-browed sparrow weaver ( Plocepasser mahali ) societies, to isolate the effects of within-parent changes in age on offspring TLs. Our analyses reveal the first evidence to date of a positive within-parent effect of advancing age on offspring TL: as individual parents age, they produce offspring with longer telomeres (a modest effect that persists into offspring adulthood). We consider the potential for pre- and post-natal mechanisms to explain our findings. As telomere attrition predicts offspring survival to adulthood in this species, this positive parental age effect could impact parent and offspring fitness if it arose via differential telomere attrition during offspring development. Our findings support the view that cross-generational effects of parental age can be a source of inter-individual variation in TL.

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