Back to Search Start Over

Shorter telomere length with age in the loggerhead turtle: a new hope for live sea turtle age estimation.

Authors :
Hatase H
Sudo R
Watanabe KK
Kasugai T
Saito T
Okamoto H
Uchida I
Tsukamoto K
Source :
Genes & genetic systems [Genes Genet Syst] 2008 Oct; Vol. 83 (5), pp. 423-6.
Publication Year :
2008

Abstract

We verified whether telomere length shortens with age in the loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) by measuring telomere lengths (relative telomere to single copy gene [T/S] ratios) in whole blood and epidermis from 20 captive individuals with a real-time PCR method. There was no significant correlation between age and relative T/S ratios in blood. Although the correlation between age and relative T/S ratios in epidermis was not significant, older turtles had smaller relative T/S ratios in epidermis. It was thus demonstrated that telomere length in epidermis could be a useful age estimator for sea turtles. Relative age information obtained with this simple, rapid, non-invasive technique may help to advance our understanding of the ecology of endangered sea turtles. This is the first publication on age-related changes in telomere length among chelonians.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
1341-7568
Volume :
83
Issue :
5
Database :
MEDLINE
Journal :
Genes & genetic systems
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
19168993
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1266/ggs.83.423