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Skin pentosidine and telomere length do not covary with age in a long-lived seabird

Rattiste, Kalev ; Klandorf, Hillar ; Urvik, Janek ; Sepp, Tuul ; Muhammad, Asghar LU ; Hasselquist, Dennis LU ; Cooey, Crissa and Horak, Peeter (2015) In Biogerontology 16(4). p.435-441
Abstract
The questions about why and how senescence occurs in the wild are among the most pertinent ones in evolutionary ecology. Telomere length is a commonly used marker for aging, while other biomarkers of aging have received considerably less attention. Here we studied how another potent indicator of aging-skin pentosidine concentration-relates to age and blood telomere length in a long-lived seabird with well-documented reproductive senescence. We found no associations between telomere length, skin pentosidine and chronological age in male common gulls (Larus canus), aging from 2 to 30 years. However, the variance in telomere length was 4.6 times higher among the birds older than 13 years, which hints at relaxed selection on telomere length... (More)
The questions about why and how senescence occurs in the wild are among the most pertinent ones in evolutionary ecology. Telomere length is a commonly used marker for aging, while other biomarkers of aging have received considerably less attention. Here we studied how another potent indicator of aging-skin pentosidine concentration-relates to age and blood telomere length in a long-lived seabird with well-documented reproductive senescence. We found no associations between telomere length, skin pentosidine and chronological age in male common gulls (Larus canus), aging from 2 to 30 years. However, the variance in telomere length was 4.6 times higher among the birds older than 13 years, which hints at relaxed selection on telomere length among the birds that have passed their prime age of reproduction. These results suggest that physiological and chronological ages may be largely uncoupled in our study system. Furthermore, our findings do not support a hypothesis about the presence of a common physiological factor (e.g., such as oxidative stress) that would cause covariation between two independent markers of aging. (Less)
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author
; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Aging, Common gull, Markers of aging, Larus canus
in
Biogerontology
volume
16
issue
4
pages
435 - 441
publisher
Springer
external identifiers
  • wos:000357114600005
  • scopus:84933678291
  • pmid:25726322
ISSN
1573-6768
DOI
10.1007/s10522-015-9564-1
project
Immunoecology
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
6a2c0e70-0ea8-4517-9cde-9e70d42e4ae8 (old id 7791006)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 09:55:24
date last changed
2024-04-06 20:46:52
@article{6a2c0e70-0ea8-4517-9cde-9e70d42e4ae8,
  abstract     = {{The questions about why and how senescence occurs in the wild are among the most pertinent ones in evolutionary ecology. Telomere length is a commonly used marker for aging, while other biomarkers of aging have received considerably less attention. Here we studied how another potent indicator of aging-skin pentosidine concentration-relates to age and blood telomere length in a long-lived seabird with well-documented reproductive senescence. We found no associations between telomere length, skin pentosidine and chronological age in male common gulls (Larus canus), aging from 2 to 30 years. However, the variance in telomere length was 4.6 times higher among the birds older than 13 years, which hints at relaxed selection on telomere length among the birds that have passed their prime age of reproduction. These results suggest that physiological and chronological ages may be largely uncoupled in our study system. Furthermore, our findings do not support a hypothesis about the presence of a common physiological factor (e.g., such as oxidative stress) that would cause covariation between two independent markers of aging.}},
  author       = {{Rattiste, Kalev and Klandorf, Hillar and Urvik, Janek and Sepp, Tuul and Muhammad, Asghar and Hasselquist, Dennis and Cooey, Crissa and Horak, Peeter}},
  issn         = {{1573-6768}},
  keywords     = {{Aging; Common gull; Markers of aging; Larus canus}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{435--441}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{Biogerontology}},
  title        = {{Skin pentosidine and telomere length do not covary with age in a long-lived seabird}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10522-015-9564-1}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/s10522-015-9564-1}},
  volume       = {{16}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}