Multi-Tissue Methylation Clocks for Age and Sex Estimation in the Common Bottlenose Dolphin

Accurate identification of individual ages within wild bottlenose dolphins ( Tursiops truncatus ) is critical for determining population health and the development of population management strategies. As such, we analyzed DNA methylation (DNAm) patterns by applying a custom methylation array (Horvat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Frontiers in Marine Science 2021-09, Vol.8
Main Authors: Robeck, Todd R., Fei, Zhe, Haghani, Amin, Zoller, Joseph A., Li, Caesar Z., Steinman, Karen J., Dirocco, Stacy, Staggs, Lydia, Schmitt, Todd, Osborn, Steve, Montano, Gisele, Rodriguez, Magdalena, Horvath, Steve
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
accelerated aging
Accuracy
Age
Age determination
Ageing
Aging
Animals
Anthropogenic factors
Aquatic mammals
Biopsy
Blood
bottlenose dolphin
Cetacea
DNA
DNA methylation
Dolphins & porpoises
epigenetic clock
Epigenetics
Gene expression
Marine mammals
Sex
sex determination
Skin
Tursiops truncatus
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Summary:Accurate identification of individual ages within wild bottlenose dolphins ( Tursiops truncatus ) is critical for determining population health and the development of population management strategies. As such, we analyzed DNA methylation (DNAm) patterns by applying a custom methylation array (HorvathMammalMethyl40) to both blood ( n = 140) and skin samples ( n = 87) from known age or approximate age (0–57 years) bottlenose dolphins. We present three bottlenose dolphin specific age estimation clocks using combined blood and skin [48 CpGs, R = 0.93, median absolute error (MAE) = 2.13 years], blood only (64 CpGs, R = 0.97, error = 1.46 years) and skin only (39 CpGs, R = 0.95, error = 2.53). We characterized individual cytosines that correlate with sex and age in dolphins and developed a sex estimator based on 71 CpGs that predicts the sex of any odontocete species with 99.5% accuracy. The presented epigenetic clocks are expected to be useful for conservation efforts and for determining if anthropogenic events affect aging rates in wild populations.
ISSN:2296-7745
2296-7745
DOI:10.3389/fmars.2021.713373