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Heritable variation in telomere length predicts mortality in Soay sheep.

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary biology
  • Gerontology
  • Quantitative genetics

Background:

  • Telomere length (TL) is a biomarker for health and aging, with shorter TL linked to mortality risk in many species.
  • The mechanisms driving the TL-mortality association, whether genetic or environmental, remain unclear.
  • Longitudinal data across entire lifespans are needed to resolve this, but are challenging to obtain in long-lived species.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the relationship between telomere length and mortality risk in wild Soay sheep.
  • To determine if TL attrition or average TL differences explain the association with lifespan.
  • To explore the genetic basis of the TL-lifespan correlation.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized longitudinal data and samples from a long-term study of wild Soay sheep (nearly two decades).
  • Employed multivariate quantitative genetic models to analyze TL and life history data.
  • Dissected the association between TL and subsequent survival, distinguishing between attrition and average differences.

Main Results:

  • Found no evidence that telomere attrition was associated with increased mortality risk in Soay sheep.
  • Telomere length did not appear to be a marker of biological aging or environmental stress in this population.
  • Among-individual differences in average TL were positively associated with increased lifespan.
  • This TL-lifespan correlation was found to have a significant genetic basis.

Conclusions:

  • The observed TL-lifespan association in Soay sheep is primarily driven by genetic factors influencing average TL, not by telomere attrition.
  • Telomere length has the potential to evolve under natural selection.
  • Genetics plays a key role in the widespread observation that shorter telomeres predict mortality across species.