Journal Article
Temperature-independent telomere lengthening with age in the long-lived human fish (Proteus anguinus)
Voituron, Y., Guillaume, O., Dumet, A., Zahn. S and Criscuolo, F.
Record Number:
6345
Year:
2023
Journal:
Proceedings of the Royal Society B
Pages:
1-5
Volume:
290: 20230503
Abstract:
Despite a number of studies showing a negative relationship between age
and telomere length, the universality of this pattern has been recently challenged,
mainly in ectothermic animals exhibiting diverse effects of age on
telomere shortening. However, data on ectotherms may be strongly affected
by the thermal history of the individuals. We thus investigated the agerelated
changes in relative telomere length in the skin of a small but longlived
amphibian living naturally in a stable thermal environment over its
entire life, allowing comparison with other homeothermic animals like
birds and mammals. The present data showed a positive relation between
telomere length and individual age, independent of sex and body size. A
segmented analysis highlighted a breakpoint in the telomere length–age
relationship, suggesting that telomere length reached a plateau at the age
of 25 years. Further studies focusing on the biology of animals that live
much longer than expected based on body mass will contribute to our
better understanding of how ageing processes evolved and may also bring
innovation for extending human health span.
Times Cited:
1
Relevent Species: