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

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....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Biology Letters
Main Authors: Bouwhuis, Sandra, Verhulst, Simon, Bauch, Christina, Vedder, Oscar
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2018
Subjects:
ageing
common tern
Lansing effect
parental effect
Sterna hirundo
terminal restriction fragment analysis
AGE
FITNESS
POPULATION
Lansing
Common tern
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/11370/959cc568-633d-4388-a68a-a155c2e51024
https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/959cc568-633d-4388-a68a-a155c2e51024
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2018.0213
https://pure.rug.nl/ws/files/62876470/BouwhuisS_etal_BiolLett_2018_paternal_age_telomere.pdf
Description
Summary: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.

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