sex differences in sand lizard telomere inheritance paternal epigenetic effects increases telomere heritability and offspring survival性别差异在沙蜥端粒继承父亲的表观遗传效应增加端粒遗传和后代的生存.pdfVIP

Sex Differences in Sand Lizard Telomere Inheritance: Paternal Epigenetic Effects Increases Telomere Heritability and Offspring Survival 1,2 2 3 4 5 2 Mats Olsson *, Angela Pauliny , Erik Wapstra , Tobias Uller , Tonia Schwartz , Donald Blomqvist 1 School of Biological Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 2 Department of Zoology, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden, 3 School of Zoology, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, 4 Department of Zoology, Edward Grey Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom, 5 Interdepartmental Genetics Program, Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology Department, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, United States of America Abstract Background: To date, the only estimate of the heritability of telomere length in wild populations comes from humans. Thus, there is a need for analysis of natural populations with respect to how telomeres evolve. Methodology/Principal Findings: Here, we show that telomere length is heritable in free-ranging sand lizards, Lacerta agilis. More importantly, heritability estimates analysed within, and contrasted between, the sexes are markedly different; son-sire heritability is much higher relative to daughter-dam heritability. We assess the effect of paternal age on Telomere Length (TL) and show that in this species, paternal age at conception is the best predictor of TL in sons. Neither paternal age per se at blood sampling for telomere screening, nor corresponding age in sons impact TL in sons. Processes maintaining telomere length are also associated with negative fitness effects, most notably by increasing the risk of cancer and show variation across different categories of individuals (e.g. males vs. females