Within the genome, long telomeres are more informative than short telomeres with respect to fitness components in a long-lived seabird
Within the genome, long telomeres are more informative than short telomeres with respect to fitness components in a long-lived seabird
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DOI：
10.1111/mec.12602
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发表时间：
2014-02-01
影响因子：
4.9
通讯作者：
Verhulst, Simon
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Bauch, Christina;Becker, Peter H.;Verhulst, Simon
端粒，染色体末端的DNA-蛋白质结构，随着年龄的增长而缩短，端粒长度与年龄相关的疾病和生存有关。体外研究表明，最短的端粒触发细胞衰老，但最短的端粒是否也是衰老的最佳生物标志物尚不清楚。我们用末端限制性片段分析法测定了野生大燕鸥红细胞的端粒。这产生了每个样本的端粒长度分布，我们研究了不同的端粒亚群（端粒）在其与年龄和健身代理的关系中如何变化。随着年龄的增长，基因组中较长的端粒丢失了更多的碱基对，并且比较短的端粒更能预测生存。同样，健身代理，如到达繁殖地的日期和繁殖成功率最好的预测端粒长度在较高的温度。我们发现，基因组中较长的端粒比较短的端粒更好地预测健身组件，这表明它们是一种信息量更大的衰老生物标志物。这一发现与细胞衰老是由最短的端粒引发的事实形成对比。我们认为，这种矛盾的出现，因为较长的端粒失去更多的碱基对每单位时间，从而更好地反映了各种形式的压力，加速端粒缩短，端粒主要作为生物标志物，因为它们的缩短反映了各种压力的累积效应，而不是反映端粒诱导的细胞衰老。
Telomeres, DNA-protein structures at chromosome ends, shorten with age, and telomere length has been linked to age-related diseases and survival. In vitro studies revealed that the shortest telomeres trigger cell senescence, but whether the shortest telomeres are also the best biomarker of ageing is not known. We measured telomeres in erythrocytes of wild common terns Sterna hirundo using terminal restriction fragment analysis. This yields a distribution of telomere lengths for each sample, and we investigated how different telomere subpopulations (percentiles) varied in their relation to age and fitness proxies. Longer telomeres within a genome lost more base pairs with age and were better predictors of survival than shorter telomeres. Likewise, fitness proxies such as arrival date at the breeding grounds and reproductive success were best predicted by telomere length at the higher percentiles. Our finding that longer telomeres within a genome predict fitness components better than the shorter telomeres indicates that they are a more informative ageing biomarker. This finding contrasts with the fact that cell senescence is triggered by the shortest telomeres. We suggest that this paradox arises, because longer telomeres lose more base pairs per unit time and thus better reflect the various forms of stress that accelerate telomere shortening, and that telomeres primarily function as biomarker because their shortening reflects cumulative effects of various stressors rather than reflecting telomere-induced cell senescence.