Mature sperm small-RNA profile in the sparrow: implications for transgenerational effects of age on fitness

Matsushima, Wayo; Brink, Kristiana; Schroeder, Julia; Miska, Eric A.; Gapp, Katharina

doi:10.1093/eep/dvz007

Cited by 8 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…While we expected that old parents would produce chicks with shorter telomeres, as found in other short-lived bird species in line with predictions of the Lansing effect ( Criscuolo et al, 2017 ; Bauch et al, 2019 ), our experimental approach found that old fathers produced daughters with longer telomeres, but only 3 months after hatching, potentially indicating an environmental or an age-dependent epigenetic effect ( Matsushima et al, 2019 ). Positive relationships between parental age and offspring telomere length have previously been foundin long- and short-lived bird species ( Asghar et al, 2015 ; Dupont et al, 2018 ; Brown A. M et al, 2021 ).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 76%

Evidence of Paternal Effects on Telomere Length Increases in Early Life

et al. 2022

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Offspring of older parents in many species have decreased longevity, a faster ageing rate and lower fecundity than offspring born to younger parents. Biomarkers of ageing, such as telomeres, that tend to shorten as individuals age, may provide insight into the mechanisms of such parental age effects. Parental age may be associated with offspring telomere length either directly through inheritance of shortened telomeres or indirectly, for example, through changes in parental care in older parents affecting offspring telomere length. Across the literature there is considerable variation in estimates of the heritability of telomere length, and in the direction and extent of parental age effects on telomere length. To address this, we experimentally tested how parental age is associated with the early-life telomere dynamics of chicks at two time points in a captive population of house sparrows Passer domesticus. We experimentally separated parental age from sex effects, and removed effects of age-assortative mating, by allowing the parent birds to only mate with young, or old partners. The effect of parental age was dependent on the sex of the parent and the chicks, and was found in the father-daughter relationship only; older fathers produced daughters with longer telomere lengths post-fledging. Overall we found that chick telomere length increased between the age of 0.5 and 3 months at the population and individual level. This finding is unusual in birds with such increases more commonly associated with non-avian taxa. Our results suggest parental age effects on telomere length are sex-specific either through indirect or direct inheritance. The study of similar patterns in different species and taxa will help us further understand variation in telomere length and its evolution.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 76%

Evidence of Paternal Effects on Telomere Length Increases in Early Life

et al. 2022

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“…Concurrently, very little is known about the molecular mechanisms involved, especially in poultry (Guerrero-Bosagna et al, 2018). These may include alterations in sperm miRNAs and lncRNAs (Wu et al, 2019), or putative RNA modifications, DNA methylation, and retained histones (Matsushima et al, 2019).…”

Section: Transgenerational Programmingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early Phenotype Programming in Birds by Temperature and Nutrition: A Mini-Review

et al. 2022

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Early development is a critical period during which environmental influences can have a significant impact on the health, welfare, robustness and performance of livestock. In oviparous vertebrates, such as birds, embryonic development takes place entirely in the egg. This allows the effects of environmental cues to be studied directly on the developing embryo. Interestingly, beneficial effects have been identified in several studies, leading to innovative procedures to improve the phenotype of the animals in the long term. In this review, we discuss the effects of early temperature and dietary programming strategies that both show promising results, as well as their potential transgenerational effects. The timing, duration and intensity of these procedures are critical to ensure that they produce beneficial effects without affecting animal survival or final product quality. For example, cyclic increases in egg incubation temperature have been shown to improve temperature tolerance and promote muscular growth in chickens or fatty liver production in mule ducks. In ovo feeding has also been successfully used to enhance digestive tract maturation, optimize chick development and growth, and thus obtain higher quality chicks. In addition, changes in the nutritional availability of methyl donors, for example, was shown to influence offspring phenotype. The molecular mechanisms behind early phenotype programming are still under investigation and are probably epigenetic in nature as shown by recent work in chickens.

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“…Recent studies confirm that sperm RNA content analysis is possible. 5,8 Poliovirus is an RNA virus and humans are it's only naturally occurring hosts 2. Prior to the 19th century no epidemics of acute flaccid paralysis due to poliomyelitis are recorded in any human culture 10 , the virus most likely infected nearly all humans universally 9,10 , had low rates of acute flaccid paralysis 10 and an even lower rate of mortality, infected individuals at a young age 9,10 and no poliomyelitis epidemics were recorded following European contact with previously separated populations including native American, native Australian, native Tasmanian and several others. Some authors report pre-contact poliomyelitis in Native American populations 11 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Hypothesis of Symbiosis between Humans and Poliovirus as a Critical Evolutionary Step in Human Speciation

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2019

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No single evolutionary event has been identified as the cause for the final emergence of our species. I propose that a mutation on CD155 receptor gene occurred to establish a symbiosis with poliovirus, which exerted its beneficial impact via RNA dependent non-genetic transgenerational inheritance, which caused a qualitative enhancement of cognitive functions. I posit that this mutation occurred in what we call, Anatomically Modern Humans, our immediate ancestor species and that the disruption of this symbiosis causes autism spectrum disorder. Positive selection of CD155 to the extent of becoming a species defining characteristic, the chronology of autism spectrum disorder prevalence increase and continued increase, the multigenerational nature of RNA inheritance, the universal infection of humans by poliovirus and a very low associated mortality rate, and several other factors support this hypothesis. Specific genetic, epidemiological and sperm miRNA content studies are suggested to test this hypothesis.

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Mature sperm small-RNA profile in the sparrow: implications for transgenerational effects of age on fitness

Cited by 8 publications

References 59 publications

Evidence of Paternal Effects on Telomere Length Increases in Early Life

Evidence of Paternal Effects on Telomere Length Increases in Early Life

Early Phenotype Programming in Birds by Temperature and Nutrition: A Mini-Review

A Hypothesis of Symbiosis between Humans and Poliovirus as a Critical Evolutionary Step in Human Speciation

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