Telomeres, Aging, and Plants: From Weeds to Methuselah – A Mini-Review

Watson, J. Matthew; Říha, Karel

doi:10.1159/000310174

Cited by 60 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 109 publications

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“…Differences in the relative abundance of somatic versus stem cells might also determine variation in telomere length (Ojimi and Hidaka, 2010), but we cannot either discard recombination between homologous telomeres as a means to elongate telomeres (Liu et al, 2007). Even in plants, telomere restoration is only present in meristomatic and reproductive tissues, with exceptions in long-lived species (Flanary and Kletetschka, 2005;Watson and Riha, 2011 among other references), whereas in some algae it has been described telomerase activity during all life cycles, but large differences in telomerase activity have been found across algae groups (Fulnecková et al, 2013;Ševčíková et al, 2013). Further comparison of telomerase and stem cells in relation to regeneration in the analyzed populations of C. tenuispina would thus be of future interest.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long telomeres are associated with clonality in wild populations of the fissiparous starfish Coscinasterias tenuispina

et al. 2015

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Telomeres usually shorten during an organism's lifespan and have thus been used as an aging and health marker. When telomeres become sufficiently short, senescence is induced. The most common method of restoring telomere length is via telomerase reverse transcriptase activity, highly expressed during embryogenesis. However, although asexual reproduction from adult tissues has an important role in the life cycles of certain species, its effect on the aging and fitness of wild populations, as well as its implications for the long-term survival of populations with limited genetic variation, is largely unknown. Here we compare relative telomere length of 58 individuals from four populations of the asexually reproducing starfish Coscinasterias tenuispina. Additionally, 12 individuals were used to compare telomere lengths in regenerating and non-regenerating arms, in two different tissues (tube feet and pyloric cecum). The level of clonality was assessed by genotyping the populations based on 12 specific microsatellite loci and relative telomere length was measured via quantitative PCR. The results revealed significantly longer telomeres in Mediterranean populations than Atlantic ones as demonstrated by the Kruskal-Wallis test (K = 24.17, significant value: P-valueo0.001), with the former also characterized by higher levels of clonality derived from asexual reproduction. Telomeres were furthermore significantly longer in regenerating arms than in non-regenerating arms within individuals (pyloric cecum tissue: Mann-Whitney test, V = 299, P-valueo10 − 6 ; and tube feet tissue Student's t = 2.28, P-value = 0.029). Our study suggests that one of the mechanisms responsible for the long-term somatic maintenance and persistence of clonal populations is telomere elongation.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long telomeres are associated with clonality in wild populations of the fissiparous starfish Coscinasterias tenuispina

et al. 2015

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“…S1). Instead, they are extended by the enzyme telomerase (27). Disruption of the Arabidopsis gene encoding the catalytic subunit of telomerase, TERT, leads to a gradual loss of telomeric DNA that is directly proportional to the number of rounds of DNA replication (SI Appendix, Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Germline replications and somatic mutation accumulation are independent of vegetative life span inArabidopsis

Watson

Platzer

Kazda

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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In plants, gametogenesis occurs late in development, and somatic mutations can therefore be transmitted to the next generation. Longer periods of growth are believed to result in an increase in the number of cell divisions before gametogenesis, with a concomitant increase in mutations arising due to replication errors. However, there is little experimental evidence addressing how many cell divisions occur before gametogenesis. Here, we measured loss of telomeric DNA and accumulation of replication errors in Arabidopsis with short and long life spans to determine the number of replications in lineages leading to gametes. Surprisingly, the number of cell divisions within the gamete lineage is nearly independent of both life span and vegetative growth. One consequence of the relatively stable number of replications per generation is that older plants may not pass along more somatically acquired mutations to their offspring. We confirmed this hypothesis by genomic sequencing of progeny from young and old plants. This independence can be achieved by hierarchical arrangement of cell divisions in plant meristems where vegetative growth is primarily accomplished by expansion of cells in rapidly dividing meristematic zones, which are only rarely refreshed by occasional divisions of more quiescent cells. We support this model by 5-ethynyl-2′-deoxyuridine retention experiments in shoot and root apical meristems. These results suggest that stem-cell organization has independently evolved in plants and animals to minimize mutations by limiting DNA replication. mutation rate | shoot apical meristem | germline | mismatch repair | telomeres

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“…In addition, since the early of 1990's, telomere shortening has been implicated in cell aging in almost all types of living organisms, including plants (reviewed by Watson and Riha, 2011). Seed aging was assessed effectively by measuring the length of telomeres in seeds (Boubriak et al, 2007;Dona et al, 2013).…”

Section: Genomic Methylation Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Genomics: A Hallmark to Monitor Molecular and Biochemical Processes Leading Toward a Better Perceptive of Seed Aging and ex-situ Conservation

Ahmad¹,

Shah²,

Rehman³

et al. 2017

Current Issues in Molecular Biology

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Abbreviations:AFLP, amplified fragment length polymorphism AGO, argonaute miRNA, micro RNA NGS, next generation sequencing PCD, programmed cell death PIMT, protein L-isoaspartyl methyltransferase PRC2, Polycomb repressive complex 2 RAPD, random amplification of polymorphic DNA ROS, reactive oxygen species SSR, simple sequence repeat TUNEL, terminal deoxynucleotide transferasemediated dUTP nick-end labeling qRT-PCR, quantitative reverse transcriptional polymerase chain reaction Abstract For human food security, the preservation of 7.4 million ex-situ germplasm is a global priority. However, ex situ-conserved seeds are subject to aging, which reduces their viability and ultimately results in the loss of valuable genetic material over long periods. Recent progress in seed biology and genomics has revealed new opportunities to improve the long-term storage of ex-situ seed germplasm. This review summarizes the recent improvements in seed physiology and genomics, with the intention of developing genomic tools for evaluating seed aging. Several lines of seed biology research have shown promise in retrieving viability signal from various stages of seed germination. We conclude that seed aging is associated with mitochondrial alteration and programmed cell death, DNA and enzyme repair, anti-oxidative genes, telomere length, and epigenetic regulation. Clearly, opportunities exist for observing seed aging for developing genomic tools to increment the traditional germination test for effective conservation of ex-situ germplasm.

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Telomeres, Aging, and Plants: From Weeds to Methuselah – A Mini-Review

Cited by 60 publications

References 109 publications

Long telomeres are associated with clonality in wild populations of the fissiparous starfish Coscinasterias tenuispina

Long telomeres are associated with clonality in wild populations of the fissiparous starfish Coscinasterias tenuispina

Germline replications and somatic mutation accumulation are independent of vegetative life span inArabidopsis

Genomics: A Hallmark to Monitor Molecular and Biochemical Processes Leading Toward a Better Perceptive of Seed Aging and ex-situ Conservation

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