The sperm of aging male bustards retards their offspring’s development

Preston, Brian T.; Jalme, Michel Saint; Hingrat, Yves; Lacroix, Frédéric; Sorci, Gabriele

doi:10.1038/ncomms7146

Cited by 62 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 41 publications

(69 reference statements)

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“…Teasing apart such effects with respect to telomere length would require artificial insemination and a cross‐fostering design that was not possible in our study (Tissier, Williams & Criscuolo ; Preston et al . ). We did not, however, find any correlation between parental age and hatching mass or chick growth in our study.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Parental age influences offspring telomere loss

et al. 2016

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Summary1. The age of the parents at the time of offspring production can influence offspring longevity, but the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. The effect of parental age on offspring telomere dynamics (length and loss rate) is one mechanism that could be important in this context. 2. Parental age might influence the telomere length that offspring inherit or age-related differences in the quality of parental care could influence the rate of offspring telomere loss. However, these routes have generally not been disentangled. 3. Here, we investigated whether parental age was related to offspring telomere dynamics using parents ranging in age from 2 to 22 years old in a free-living population of a long-lived seabird, the European shag (Phalacrocorax aristotelis). By measuring the telomere length of offspring at hatching and towards the end of the post-natal growth period, we could assess whether any potential parental age effect was confined to the post-natal rearing period. 4. There was no effect of maternal or paternal age on the initial telomere length of their chicks. However, chicks produced by older mothers and fathers experienced significantly greater telomere loss during the post-natal nestling growth period. We had relatively few nests in which the ages of both parents were known, and individuals in this population mate assortatively with respect to age. Thus, we could not conclusively determine whether the parental age effect was due to maternal age, paternal age, or both; however, it appears that the effect is stronger in mothers.5. These results demonstrate that in this species, there was no evidence that parental age was related to offspring hatching telomere length. However, telomere loss during nestling growth was reduced in the offspring of older parents. This could be due to an age-related deterioration in the quality of the environment that parents provide, or because parents that invest less in offspring rearing live to an older age.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Parental age influences offspring telomere loss

et al. 2016

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“…Demonstrating conclusively that parental exposure to stressors influences the telomere lengths of gametes, which are then transmitted to offspring, will require measuring gamete telomere length and experimental designs that employ artificial insemination and cross-fostering techniques to rule out the possibility of changes in maternal and paternal investment [55]. However, if parental exposure to stressors has direct effects on offspring telomere length, this could have large health implications for multiple future generations [54].…”

Section: (A) Direct Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Telomere dynamics may link stress exposure and ageing across generations

2015

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Although exposure to stressors is known to increase disease susceptibility and accelerate ageing, evidence is accumulating that these effects can span more than one generation. Stressors experienced by parents have been reported to negatively influence the longevity of their offspring and even grand offspring. The mechanisms underlying these long-term, cross-generational effects are still poorly understood, but we argue here that telomere dynamics are likely to play an important role. In this review, we begin by surveying the current connections between stress and telomere dynamics. We then lay out the evidence that exposure to stressors in the parental generation influences telomere dynamics in offspring and potentially subsequent generations. We focus on evidence in mammalian and avian studies and highlight several promising areas where our understanding is incomplete and future investigations are critically needed. Understanding the mechanisms that link stress exposure across generations requires interdisciplinary studies and is essential to both the biomedical community seeking to understand how early adversity impacts health span and evolutionary ecologists interested in how changing environmental conditions are likely to influence age-structured population dynamics.

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“…Individuals experiencing senescence-related physical declines can drive evolutionary change through increased mutation load and decreased quality in ageing germlines [72,73]. The development of an individual's annual schedule during ontogeny has also been linked with phenotypic divergence and evolutionary change.…”

Section: Individual Differences and Evolutionary Processesmentioning

confidence: 99%

An ontogenetic perspective on individual differences

2015

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Phenotypic differences among individuals can arise during any stage of life. Although several distinct processes underlying individual differences have been defined and studied (e.g. parental effects, senescence), we lack an explicit, unified perspective for understanding how these processes contribute separately and synergistically to observed variation in functional traits. We propose a conceptual framework based on a developmental view of lifehistory variation, linking each ontogenetic stage with the types of individual differences originating during that period. In our view, the salient differences among these types are encapsulated by three key criteria: timing of onset, when fitness consequences are realized, and potential for reversibility. To fill a critical gap in this framework, we formulate a new term to refer to individual differences generated during adulthood-reversible state effects. We define these as 'reversible changes in a functional trait resulting from life-history trade-offs during adulthood that affect fitness', highlighting how the adult phenotype can be repeatedly altered in response to environmental variation. Defining individual differences in terms of trade-offs allows explicit predictions regarding when and where fitness consequences should be expected. Moreover, viewing individual differences in a developmental context highlights how different processes can work in concert to shape phenotype and fitness, and lays a foundation for research linking individual differences to ecological and evolutionary theory.

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The sperm of aging male bustards retards their offspring’s development

Cited by 62 publications

References 41 publications

Parental age influences offspring telomere loss

Parental age influences offspring telomere loss

Telomere dynamics may link stress exposure and ageing across generations

An ontogenetic perspective on individual differences

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