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Growing old, yet staying young:The role of telomeres in bats' exceptional longevity
- Source :
- Foley, N, Hughes, G, Huang, Z, Clarke, M, Jebb, D, Whelan, C, Petit, E, Touzalin, F, Farcy, O, Jones, G, Ransome, R, Kacprzyk, J, O'Connell, M, Kerth, G, Rebelo, H, Rodriguez, L, Puechmaille, S & Teeling, E 2018, ' Growing old, yet staying young : The role of telomeres in bats' exceptional longevity ', Science Advances, vol. 4, no. 2, eaao0926 . https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aao0926, Science Advances, Science Advances, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 2018, 4 (2), pp.eaao0926. ⟨10.1126/sciadv.aao0926⟩, Science Advances, 2018, 4 (2), pp.eaao0926. ⟨10.1126/sciadv.aao0926⟩
- Publication Year :
- 2018
-
Abstract
- Telomeres do not shorten with age in longest-lived bats.<br />Understanding aging is a grand challenge in biology. Exceptionally long-lived animals have mechanisms that underpin extreme longevity. Telomeres are protective nucleotide repeats on chromosome tips that shorten with cell division, potentially limiting life span. Bats are the longest-lived mammals for their size, but it is unknown whether their telomeres shorten. Using >60 years of cumulative mark-recapture field data, we show that telomeres shorten with age in Rhinolophus ferrumequinum and Miniopterus schreibersii, but not in the bat genus with greatest longevity, Myotis. As in humans, telomerase is not expressed in Myotis myotis blood or fibroblasts. Selection tests on telomere maintenance genes show that ATM and SETX, which repair and prevent DNA damage, potentially mediate telomere dynamics in Myotis bats. Twenty-one telomere maintenance genes are differentially expressed in Myotis, of which 14 are enriched for DNA repair, and 5 for alternative telomere-lengthening mechanisms. We demonstrate how telomeres, telomerase, and DNA repair genes have contributed to the evolution of exceptional longevity in Myotis bats, advancing our understanding of healthy aging.
- Subjects :
- 0301 basic medicine
Telomerase
animal structures
DNA repair
DNA damage
media_common.quotation_subject
Longevity
Myotis myotis
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
Species Specificity
Chiroptera
[SDV.BA.ZV]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Animal biology/Vertebrate Zoology
Genetics
Animals
Selection, Genetic
Gene
Research Articles
media_common
Multidisciplinary
biology
Body Weight
Rhinolophus ferrumequinum
SciAdv r-articles
Telomere
biology.organism_classification
[SDV.GEN.GA]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Genetics/Animal genetics
030104 developmental biology
Evolutionary biology
[SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology
030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Research Article
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 23752548
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Foley, N, Hughes, G, Huang, Z, Clarke, M, Jebb, D, Whelan, C, Petit, E, Touzalin, F, Farcy, O, Jones, G, Ransome, R, Kacprzyk, J, O'Connell, M, Kerth, G, Rebelo, H, Rodriguez, L, Puechmaille, S & Teeling, E 2018, ' Growing old, yet staying young : The role of telomeres in bats' exceptional longevity ', Science Advances, vol. 4, no. 2, eaao0926 . https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aao0926, Science Advances, Science Advances, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 2018, 4 (2), pp.eaao0926. ⟨10.1126/sciadv.aao0926⟩, Science Advances, 2018, 4 (2), pp.eaao0926. ⟨10.1126/sciadv.aao0926⟩
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....403521870c1b98226572911672a0dd63