Sadoughi B, Hernández-Rojas R, Hamou H, Lopez R, Mah M, Slikas E, Simmons Smv, Orkin J D, Higham J P, Brosnan S F, Jack K M, Campos F A, Snyder-Mackler N, Melin A D
Center for Evolution and Medicine, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA.
School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA.
bioRxiv. 2025 Jun 6:2025.06.03.657357. doi: 10.1101/2025.06.03.657357.
Elucidating the socio-ecological factors that shape patterns of epigenetic modification in long-lived vertebrates is of broad interest to evolutionary biologists, geroscientists, and ecologists. However, aging research in wild populations is limited due to inability to measure cellular hallmarks of aging noninvasively. Here, we demonstrate that cellular DNA methylation (DNAm) profiles from fecal samples provide an accurate and reliable molecular clock in wild capuchin monkeys. Analysis of blood, feces, and urine samples from a closely related species shows that DNAm differentiates between species and different types of biological samples. We further find age-associated differences in DNAm relevant to cellular damage, inflammation, and senescence, consistent with hallmarks conserved across humans and other mammalian species, speaking to the comparative potential. By demonstrating that DNAm can be studied non-invasively in wild animals, our research opens new avenues in the study of modifiers of the pace of aging, and increases potential for cross-population and species comparisons.
阐明塑造长寿脊椎动物表观遗传修饰模式的社会生态因素，是进化生物学家、老年科学家和生态学家广泛关注的问题。然而，由于无法非侵入性地测量衰老的细胞特征，野生种群的衰老研究受到限制。在这里，我们证明粪便样本中的细胞DNA甲基化（DNAm）谱为野生卷尾猴提供了一个准确可靠的分子时钟。对一个密切相关物种的血液、粪便和尿液样本的分析表明，DNAm能够区分不同物种和不同类型的生物样本。我们进一步发现，与细胞损伤、炎症和衰老相关的DNAm存在年龄相关差异，这与人类和其他哺乳动物物种中保守的特征一致，说明了这种比较的潜力。通过证明DNAm可以在野生动物中进行非侵入性研究，我们的研究为衰老速度调节剂的研究开辟了新途径，并增加了跨种群和物种比较的可能性。
