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Causes and Consequences of Telomere Lengthening in a Wild Vertebrate Population
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  • thomas brown,
  • Hannah Dugdale,
  • Lewis Spurgin,
  • J Komdeur,
  • Terry Burke,
  • David Richardson
thomas brown
University of East Anglia

Corresponding Author:tom.j.brown@hotmail.com

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Hannah Dugdale
University of Leeds
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Lewis Spurgin
University of East Anglia
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J Komdeur
University of Groningen
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Terry Burke
The University of Sheffield
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David Richardson
University of East Anglia
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Abstract

Telomeres have been advocated to be important markers of biological age in evolutionary and ecological studies. Telomeres usually shorten with age, and shortening is frequently associated with environmental stressors and increased subsequent mortality. Telomere lengthening – an apparent increase in telomere length between repeated samples from the same individual – also occurs. However, the exact circumstances, and consequences, of telomere lengthening are poorly understood. Using longitudinal data from the Seychelles warbler (Acrocephalus sechellensis), we tested whether telomere lengthening – which occurs in adults of this species – is associated with specific stressors (reproductive effort, food availability, malarial infection and cooperative breeding) and predicts subsequent survival. In females, telomere shortening was observed under greater stress (i.e. low food availability, malaria infection), while telomere lengthening was observed in females experiencing lower stress (i.e. high food availability, assisted by helpers, without malaria). The telomere dynamics of males were not associated with the key stressors tested. These results indicate that, at least for females, telomere lengthening occurs in circumstances more conducive to self-maintenance. Importantly, both females and males with lengthened telomeres had improved subsequent survival relative to individuals that displayed unchanged, or shortened, telomeres – indicating that telomere lengthening is associated with individual fitness. These results demonstrate that telomere dynamics are bidirectionally responsive to the level of stress that an individual faces, but may poorly reflect the accumulation of stress over the lifetime. This study challenges how we think of telomeres as a marker of biological age.
16 Feb 2021Submitted to Molecular Ecology
18 Feb 2021Submission Checks Completed
18 Feb 2021Assigned to Editor
23 Feb 2021Reviewer(s) Assigned
17 Mar 2021Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
27 Apr 2021Editorial Decision: Revise Minor
24 May 2021Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
24 May 20211st Revision Received
21 Jun 2021Editorial Decision: Accept
23 Jul 2021Published in Molecular Ecology. 10.1111/mec.16059