University of Tasmania
Browse
128900 - Ectothermic telomeres.pdf (1.05 MB)

Ectothermic telomeres: It's time they came in from the cold

Download (1.05 MB)
journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-19, 22:05 authored by Olsson, M, Erik WapstraErik Wapstra, Friesen, C
We review the evolutionary ecology and genetics of telomeres in taxa that cannot elevate their body temperature to a preferred level through metabolism but do so by basking or seeking out a warm environment. This group of organisms contains all living things on earth, apart from birds and mammals. One reason for our interest in this synthetic group is the argument that high, stable body temperature increases the risk of malignant tumours if long, telomerase-restored telomeres make cells 'live forever'. If this holds true, ectotherms should have significantly lower cancer frequencies. We discuss to what degree there is support for this 'anti-cancer' hypothesis in the current literature. Importantly, we suggest that ectothermic taxa, with variation in somatic telomerase expression across tissue and taxa, may hold the key to understanding ongoing selection and evolution of telomerase dynamics in the wild. We further review endotherm-specific effects of growth on telomeres, effects of autotomy ('tail dropping') on telomere attrition, and costs of maintaining sexual displays measured in telomere attrition. Finally, we cover plant ectotherm telomeres and life histories in a separate 'mini review'.

Funding

Australian Research Council

History

Publication title

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Volume

373

Issue

1741

Pagination

1-16

ISSN

0962-8436

Department/School

School of Natural Sciences

Publisher

The Royal Society Publishing

Place of publication

United Kingdom

Rights statement

Copyright 2018 The Authors Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Repository Status

  • Open

Socio-economic Objectives

Expanding knowledge in the biological sciences

Usage metrics

    University Of Tasmania

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC