Telomere length and age in pinnipeds: The endangered Australian sea lion as a case study

Telomeres are the protective caps at the ends of all eukaryotic chromosomes. Because DNA replication of chromosome ends is incomplete, telomeres undergo sequence loss with each cell division resulting in the progressive shortening of their lengths. Telomere shortening with age is known from terrestr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Marine mammal science 2011-10, Vol.27 (4), p.841-851
Main Authors: Izzo, Christopher, Hamer, Derek J., Bertozzi, Terry, Donnellan, Stephen C., Gillanders, Bronwyn M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
age class
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Animals
Australian sea lion
Autoecology
Biological and medical sciences
forensics
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Mammalia
management
Marine
Neophoca cinerea
pinniped
Pinnipedia
telomere length
Vertebrata
Vertebrates: general zoology, morphology, phylogeny, systematics, cytogenetics, geographical distribution
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Summary:Telomeres are the protective caps at the ends of all eukaryotic chromosomes. Because DNA replication of chromosome ends is incomplete, telomeres undergo sequence loss with each cell division resulting in the progressive shortening of their lengths. Telomere shortening with age is known from terrestrial mammals. We test whether this pattern is shared by marine mammals, by comparing telomere lengths between age classes in a pinniped species, the Australian sea lion (Neophoca cinerea). Telomere lengths were measured using a real‐time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method in specimens from three age classes: pup (5 yr). Mean telomere lengths of the adults were significantly shorter than the juvenile and pup classes. However, we were unable to differentiate between pups and juveniles. These findings confirm that the Australian sea lion shares the general pattern of shortening telomere lengths with age as documented in terrestrial mammals. The application of telomere lengths as an age determinant requires considerable development to refine the scale of the age estimates derived, which will require the use of known‐aged individuals. Nonetheless, measures of telomere lengths have the potential to become valuable tools in molecular ecology and forensics for assessing compliance in harvesting situations.
ISSN:0824-0469
1748-7692
DOI:10.1111/j.1748-7692.2010.00450.x