scholarly journals Associations between DNA methylation and telomere length during early life: Insight from wild zebra finches ( Taeniopygia guttata )

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth L. Sheldon ◽  
Riccardo Ton ◽  
Winnie Boner ◽  
Pat Monaghan ◽  
Shirley Raveh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dna Methylation ◽  
Telomere Length ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Taeniopygia Guttata ◽  
Zebra Finches

scholarly journals Associations between DNA methylation and telomere length during early life: insight from wild zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Sheldon ◽  
Riccardo Ton ◽  
Winnie Boner ◽  
Pat Monaghan ◽  
Shirley Raveh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dna Methylation ◽  
Growth Rate ◽  
Telomere Length ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Zebra Finches ◽  
Ecological Context ◽  
Life Conditions ◽  
Early Life Conditions ◽  
Length Changes

Telomere length and DNA methylation (DNAm) are two promising biomarkers of biological age. Environmental factors and life history traits are known to affect variation in both these biomarkers, especially during early life, yet surprisingly little is known about their reciprocal association. Here, we present the first study on a natural population to explore how variation in DNAm, growth rate and early-life conditions are associated with telomere length changes during development. We tested these associations by collecting data from wild, nestling zebra finches in the Australian desert. We found that increases in the level of DNAm were negatively correlated with telomere length changes across early life. We also confirm previously documented effects of post hatch growth rate and clutch size on telomere length in a natural ecological context for a species that has been extensively studied in the laboratory. However, we did not detect any effect of ambient temperature during developmental on telomere dynamics. We also found that the absolute telomere length of wild zebra finches, measured using the in-gel TRF method, was similar to that of captive birds. Our findings highlight exciting new opportunities to link and disentangle potential relationships between environmental, epigenetic and telomere length dynamics during early life.

Brood size influences patterns of DNA methylation in wild Zebra Finches (Taeniopygia guttata)

The Auk ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 135 (4) ◽  
pp. 1113-1122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth L. Sheldon ◽  
Aaron W. Schrey ◽  
Alexandria K. Ragsdale ◽  
Simon C. Griffith
Keyword(s):  
Dna Methylation ◽  
Brood Size ◽  
Taeniopygia Guttata ◽  
Zebra Finches

Simulated viral infection in early-life alters brain morphology, activity and behavior in zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata)

2018 ◽  
Vol 196 ◽  
pp. 36-46
Author(s):  
Ahmet Kerim Uysal ◽  
Lynn B. Martin ◽  
Nathan D. Burkett-Cadena ◽  
Douglas G. Barron ◽  
Toru Shimizu
Keyword(s):  
Viral Infection ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Taeniopygia Guttata ◽  
Brain Morphology ◽  
Zebra Finches ◽  
And Behavior

Early life nutritional stress affects song learning but not underlying neural circuitry in zebra finches.

2020 ◽  
Vol 134 (3) ◽  
pp. 222-232
Author(s):  
Khulganaa Buyannemekh ◽  
Jessica B. Zito ◽  
Michelle L. Tomaszycki
Keyword(s):  
Early Life ◽  
Nutritional Stress ◽  
Neural Circuitry ◽  
Song Learning ◽  
Zebra Finches

scholarly journals Gene regulation contributes to explain the impact of early life socioeconomic disadvantage on adult inflammatory levels in two cohort studies

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristian Carmeli ◽  
Zoltán Kutalik ◽  
Pashupati P. Mishra ◽  
Eleonora Porcu ◽  
Cyrille Delpierre ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dna Methylation ◽  
Gene Regulation ◽  
Cohort Studies ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Life Experiences ◽  
Socioeconomic Disadvantage ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractIndividuals experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage in childhood have a higher rate of inflammation-related diseases decades later. Little is known about the mechanisms linking early life experiences to the functioning of the immune system in adulthood. To address this, we explore the relationship across social-to-biological layers of early life social exposures on levels of adulthood inflammation and the mediating role of gene regulatory mechanisms, epigenetic and transcriptomic profiling from blood, in 2,329 individuals from two European cohort studies. Consistently across both studies, we find transcriptional activity explains a substantive proportion (78% and 26%) of the estimated effect of early life disadvantaged social exposures on levels of adulthood inflammation. Furthermore, we show that mechanisms other than cis DNA methylation may regulate those transcriptional fingerprints. These results further our understanding of social-to-biological transitions by pinpointing the role of gene regulation that cannot fully be explained by differential cis DNA methylation.

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