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128901 - Evolutionary ecology of telomeres.pdf (2.34 MB)

Evolutionary ecology of telomeres: a review

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posted on 2023-05-19, 22:05 authored by Olsson, M, Erik WapstraErik Wapstra, Friesen, CR
Telomere‐induced selection could take place if telomere‐associated disease risk shortens reproductive life span and differently reduces relative fitness among individuals. Some of these diseases first appear before reproductive senescence and could thus influence ongoing selection. We ask whether we can estimate the components of the breeder's equation for telomeres, in which the response to selection (R, by definition "evolution") is the product of ongoing selection (S) and heritability (h2). However, telomere inheritance is a conundrum: in quantitative genetics, traits can usually be allocated to categories with relatively high or low heritability, depending on their association with relative fitness. Telomere traits, however, show wide variation in heritability from zero to one, across taxa, gender, ethnicity, age, and disease status. In spite of this, there is divergence in telomere length among populations, supporting past and ongoing telomere evolution. Rates of telomere attrition and elongation vary among taxa with some, but not complete, taxonomic coherence. For example, telomerase is commonly referred to as “restricted to the germ line in mammals,” but inbred mice and beavers have telomerase upregulation in somatic tissue, as do many ectotherms. These observations provoke a simplistic understanding of telomere evolutionary biology - clearly much is yet to be discovered.

Funding

Australian Research Council

History

Publication title

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

Volume

1422

Pagination

5-28

ISSN

0077-8923

Department/School

School of Natural Sciences

Publisher

New York Acad Sciences

Place of publication

2 E 63Rd St, New York, USA, Ny, 10021

Rights statement

Copyright 2017 the authors. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

Repository Status

  • Open

Socio-economic Objectives

Expanding knowledge in the biological sciences

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