Sex differences in telomere selection in the wild
(2011) In Molecular Ecology 20(10). p.2085-2099- Abstract
- Telomere length is restored primarily through the action of the reverse transcriptase telomerase, which may contribute to a prolonged lifespan in some but not all species and may result in longer telomeres in one sex than the other. To what extent this is an effect of proximate mechanisms (e.g. higher stress in males, higher oestradiol/oestrogen levels in females), or is an evolved adaptation (stronger selection for telomere length in one sex), usually remains unknown. Sand lizard (Lacerta agilis) females have longer telomeres than males and better maintain telomere length through life than males do. We also show that telomere length more strongly contributes to life span and lifetime reproductive success in females than males and that... (More)
- Telomere length is restored primarily through the action of the reverse transcriptase telomerase, which may contribute to a prolonged lifespan in some but not all species and may result in longer telomeres in one sex than the other. To what extent this is an effect of proximate mechanisms (e.g. higher stress in males, higher oestradiol/oestrogen levels in females), or is an evolved adaptation (stronger selection for telomere length in one sex), usually remains unknown. Sand lizard (Lacerta agilis) females have longer telomeres than males and better maintain telomere length through life than males do. We also show that telomere length more strongly contributes to life span and lifetime reproductive success in females than males and that telomere length is under sexually diversifying selection in the wild. Finally, we performed a selection analysis with number of recruited offspring into the adult population as a response variable with telomere length, life span and body size as predictor variables. This showed significant differences in selection pressures between the sexes with strong ongoing selection in females, with these three predictors explaining 63% of the variation in recruitment. Thus, the sexually dimorphic telomere dynamics with longer telomeres in females is a result of past and ongoing selection in sand lizards. Finally, we compared the results from our selection analyses based on Telometric-derived data to the results based on data generated by the software ImageJ. ImageJ resulted in shorter average telomere length, but this difference had virtually no qualitative effect on the patterns of ongoing selection. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/4739044
- author
- Olsson, Mats ; Pauliny, Angela ; Wapstra, Erik ; Uller, Tobias LU ; Schwartz, Tonia and Blomqvist, Donald
- publishing date
- 2011
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Molecular Ecology
- volume
- 20
- issue
- 10
- pages
- 2085 - 2099
- publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:79955631115
- pmid:21486373
- ISSN
- 0962-1083
- DOI
- 10.1111/j.1365-294X.2011.05085.x
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- id
- 68fa460b-88d7-4995-a06d-cfcc9286d025 (old id 4739044)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 10:53:10
- date last changed
- 2022-01-26 03:28:59
@article{68fa460b-88d7-4995-a06d-cfcc9286d025,
abstract = {{Telomere length is restored primarily through the action of the reverse transcriptase telomerase, which may contribute to a prolonged lifespan in some but not all species and may result in longer telomeres in one sex than the other. To what extent this is an effect of proximate mechanisms (e.g. higher stress in males, higher oestradiol/oestrogen levels in females), or is an evolved adaptation (stronger selection for telomere length in one sex), usually remains unknown. Sand lizard (Lacerta agilis) females have longer telomeres than males and better maintain telomere length through life than males do. We also show that telomere length more strongly contributes to life span and lifetime reproductive success in females than males and that telomere length is under sexually diversifying selection in the wild. Finally, we performed a selection analysis with number of recruited offspring into the adult population as a response variable with telomere length, life span and body size as predictor variables. This showed significant differences in selection pressures between the sexes with strong ongoing selection in females, with these three predictors explaining 63% of the variation in recruitment. Thus, the sexually dimorphic telomere dynamics with longer telomeres in females is a result of past and ongoing selection in sand lizards. Finally, we compared the results from our selection analyses based on Telometric-derived data to the results based on data generated by the software ImageJ. ImageJ resulted in shorter average telomere length, but this difference had virtually no qualitative effect on the patterns of ongoing selection.}},
author = {{Olsson, Mats and Pauliny, Angela and Wapstra, Erik and Uller, Tobias and Schwartz, Tonia and Blomqvist, Donald}},
issn = {{0962-1083}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{10}},
pages = {{2085--2099}},
publisher = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
series = {{Molecular Ecology}},
title = {{Sex differences in telomere selection in the wild}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-294X.2011.05085.x}},
doi = {{10.1111/j.1365-294X.2011.05085.x}},
volume = {{20}},
year = {{2011}},
}