Grupo de Ecología Animal (GEA), Centro de Investigacion Mariña (CIM), Universidad de Vigo, Vigo 36310, Spain.
J Exp Biol. 2021 Jun 15;224(12). doi: 10.1242/jeb.242465. Epub 2021 Jun 18.
In wild animals, telomere attrition during early development has been linked with several fitness disadvantages throughout life. Telomerase enzyme can elongate telomeres, but it is generally assumed that its activity is suppressed in most somatic tissues upon birth. However, recent evidence suggests that this may not be the case for long-lived bird species. We have therefore investigated whether telomerase activity is maintained during the postnatal growth period in a wild yellow-legged gull (Larus michahellis) population. Our results indicate that telomerase activity is not negligible in the blood cells, but activity levels sharply decline from hatching to fledging following a similar pattern to the reduction observed in telomere length. Our results further suggest that the observed variation in telomere length may be the result of a negative effect of fast growth on telomerase activity, thus providing a new mechanism through which growth rates may affect telomere dynamics and potentially life-history trajectories.
在野生动物中，早期发育过程中的端粒损耗与整个生命周期中的多种适应不良有关。端粒酶可以延长端粒，但通常认为其活性在出生后大多数体细胞中受到抑制。然而，最近的证据表明，对于长寿鸟类来说情况可能并非如此。因此，我们研究了在野生黄腿海鸥（Larus michahellis）种群中，端粒酶活性是否在出生后的生长期间得到维持。我们的结果表明，端粒酶活性在血细胞中不容忽视，但活性水平从孵化到离巢时急剧下降，与观察到的端粒长度减少的模式相似。我们的结果进一步表明，观察到的端粒长度的变化可能是快速生长对端粒酶活性的负面影响的结果，从而提供了一种新的机制，即生长速度可能会影响端粒动力学并潜在地影响生命史轨迹。
