Inheritance of telomere length in a bird

Telomere dynamics are intensively studied in human ageing research and epidemiology, with many correlations reported between telomere length and age-related diseases, cancer and death. While telomere length is influenced by environmental factors there is also good evidence for a strong heritable com...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2011-02, Vol.6 (2), p.e17199-e17199
Main Authors: Horn, Thorsten, Robertson, Bruce C, Will, Margaret, Eason, Daryl K, Elliott, Graeme P, Gemmell, Neil J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age
Aging - genetics
Aging - metabolism
Animals
Antioxidants
Biology
Birds
Birds - genetics
Birds - physiology
Cancer
Cell division
Chromosomes
Compensation
Deactivation
Deoxyribonucleic acid
DNA
Environmental factors
Epidemiology
Estrogen
Estrogens
Female
Females
Genetic factors
Genomes
Genomics
Heredity
Hormones
Inactivation
Inheritance Patterns - genetics
Inheritance Patterns - physiology
Male
Males
Molothrus ater
Psittaciformes - genetics
Psittaciformes - physiology
Sex
Sex Characteristics
Sex chromosomes
Sex hormones
Strigops
Strigops habroptila
Studies
Telomerase
Telomere - genetics
Telomere - metabolism
Telomeres
Tetrahymena
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Telomere dynamics are intensively studied in human ageing research and epidemiology, with many correlations reported between telomere length and age-related diseases, cancer and death. While telomere length is influenced by environmental factors there is also good evidence for a strong heritable component. In human, the mode of telomere length inheritance appears to be paternal and telomere length differs between sexes, with females having longer telomeres than males. Genetic factors, e.g. sex chromosomal inactivation, and non-genetic factors, e.g. antioxidant properties of oestrogen, have been suggested as possible explanations for these sex-specific telomere inheritance and telomere length differences. To test the influence of sex chromosomes on telomere length, we investigated inheritance and sex-specificity of telomere length in a bird species, the kakapo (Strigops habroptilus), in which females are the heterogametic sex (ZW) and males are the homogametic (ZZ) sex. We found that, contrary to findings in humans, telomere length was maternally inherited and also longer in males. These results argue against an effect of sex hormones on telomere length and suggest that factors associated with heterogamy may play a role in telomere inheritance and sex-specific differences in telomere length.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0017199