Within‐individual repeatability in telomere length: A meta‐analysis in nonmammalian vertebrates

Kärkkäinen, Tiia; Briga, Michael; Laaksonen, Toni; Stier, Antoine

doi:10.1111/mec.16155

Cited by 31 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 203 publications

(152 reference statements)

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“…Figure 3e), although the estimate for TRF was significantly more negative than for qPCR (QM 2 11.20, p = .004). Similar methodological differences have been reported previously (e.g., see Kärkkäinen et al, 2021;Wilbourn et al, 2018). We cannot disregard the differences between methods in the small number of studies and effect sizes using the TRF technique (n = 4 studies, k = 24), and more studies are needed to elucidate the observed pattern.…”

Section: Ta B L E 1 (Continued)supporting

confidence: 66%

“…In addition, their biological implications at the organismal level remain unclear. Other biological characteristics, such as the change with age or the withinindividual repeatability, have also been shown to be sensitive to the method employed in telomere estimation (Atema et al, 2019;Kärkkäinen et al, 2021;Remot et al, 2021). Therefore, these technical limitations could influence any inferences about past stress exposure or future long-term consequences for a given telomere length if not considered beforehand.…”

Section: Further Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Telomeres and anthropogenic disturbances in wildlife: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

Salmón

Burraco

2022

Molecular Ecology

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Human-driven environmental changes are affecting wildlife across the globe. These challenges do not influence species or populations to the same extent and therefore a comprehensive evaluation of organismal health is needed to determine their ultimate impact. Evidence suggests that telomeres (the terminal chromosomal regions) are sensitive to environmental conditions and have been posited as a surrogate for animal health and fitness. Evaluation of their use in an applied ecological context is still scarce. Here, using information from molecular and occupational biomedical studies, we aim to provide ecologists and evolutionary biologists with an accessible synthesis of the links between human disturbances and telomere length. In addition, we perform a systematic review and meta-analysis on studies measuring telomere length in wild/wild-derived animals facing anthropogenic disturbances. Despite the relatively small number of studies to date, our meta-analysis revealed a significant small negative association between disturbances and telomere length (−0.092 [−0.153, −0.031]; n = 28; k = 159). Yet, our systematic review suggests that the use of telomeres as a biomarker to understand the anthropogenic impact on wildlife is limited. We propose some research avenues that will help to broadly evaluate their suitability: (i) further causal studies on the link between human disturbances and telomeres; (ii) investigating the organismal implications, in terms of fitness and performance, of a given telomere length in anthropogenically disturbed scenarios; and (iii) better understanding of the underlying mechanisms of telomere dynamics. Future studies in these facets will help to ultimately determine their role as markers of health and fitness in wildlife facing anthropogenic disturbances.

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Section: Ta B L E 1 (Continued)supporting

confidence: 66%

Section: Further Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Telomeres and anthropogenic disturbances in wildlife: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

Salmón

Burraco

2022

Molecular Ecology

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“…Second, qPCR plates contained both 0.5 and 3 months samples, and between-plate variance was negligible in all our models, highlighting that this element of our methodology had little impact on our results. Overall, we monitored procedural efficiency throughout data collection and did not identify any other potential methodological sources of variation; the repeatability estimates for the T/S ratios estimated from within-individual samples were well within the range of those for similar species in other qPCR studies ( Kärkkäinen et al, 2021 ). Consequently, we believe that the increase in telomere length observed in our study has a biological explanation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

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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“…The other eight studies used the quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR, n = 7), which relies on the quantification of the highly conserved (TTAGGG) n sequence for a Southern blot variation (TeloTAGGG for telomere quantification (n = 1) [69]. TRF-based studies are highly repeatable within individuals, whereas qPCR based studies are less repeatable and more variable than TRF because they are more prone to measurement errors [70]. qPCR can also bias measurements of telomere length because some species that exhibit interstitial telomeric repeats will artificially enlarge telomere length [71,72].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Typically, telomerase exhibits higher activity in developing organisms as compared to adults [77]. Ectotherms such as amphibians and reptiles have telomerase that is active throughout adulthood while endotherms reduce telomerase expression almost to non-detectable levels as they reach maturity [11,70]. However, there is conflicting evidence on these observations, as telomerase activity has been detected in adult common terns and European Storm Petrels among other species [78,79].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Short-term elevations in glucocorticoids do not alter telomere lengths: A systematic review and meta-analysis of non-primate vertebrate studies

2021

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Background The neuroendocrine stress response allows vertebrates to cope with stressors via the activation of the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis, which ultimately results in the secretion of glucocorticoids (GCs). Glucocorticoids have pleiotropic effects on behavior and physiology, and might influence telomere length dynamics. During a stress event, GCs mobilize energy towards survival mechanisms rather than to telomere maintenance. Additionally, reactive oxygen species produced in response to increased GC levels can damage telomeres, also leading to telomere shortening. In our systematic review and meta-analysis, we tested whether GC levels impact telomere length and if this relationship differs among time frame, life history stage, or stressor type. We hypothesized that elevated GC levels are linked to a decrease in telomere length. Methods We conducted a literature search for studies investigating the relationship between telomere length and GCs in non-human vertebrates using four search engines: Web of Science, Google Scholar, Pubmed and Scopus, last searched on September 27th, 2020. This review identified 31 studies examining the relationship between GCs and telomere length. We pooled the data using Fisher’s Z for 15 of these studies. All quantitative studies underwent a risk of bias assessment. This systematic review study was registered in the Open Science Framework Registry (https://osf.io/rqve6). Results The pooled effect size from fifteen studies and 1066 study organisms shows no relationship between GCs and telomere length (Fisher’s Z = 0.1042, 95% CI = 0.0235; 0.1836). Our meta-analysis synthesizes results from 15 different taxa from the mammalian, avian, amphibian groups. While these results support some previous findings, other studies have found a direct relationship between GCs and telomere dynamics, suggesting underlying mechanisms or concepts that were not taken into account in our analysis. The risk of bias assessment revealed an overall low risk of bias with occasional instances of bias from missing outcome data or bias in the reported result. Conclusion We highlight the need for more targeted experiments to understand how conditions, such as experimental timeframes, stressor(s), and stressor magnitudes can drive a relationship between the neuroendocrine stress response and telomere length.

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Within‐individual repeatability in telomere length: A meta‐analysis in nonmammalian vertebrates

Cited by 31 publications

References 203 publications

Telomeres and anthropogenic disturbances in wildlife: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

Telomeres and anthropogenic disturbances in wildlife: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

Evidence of Paternal Effects on Telomere Length Increases in Early Life

Short-term elevations in glucocorticoids do not alter telomere lengths: A systematic review and meta-analysis of non-primate vertebrate studies

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