Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Spring 5-4-2015
Keywords
Telomere length, Telomeres, Fishes, Gonads, Muscle tissue, Fecundity, Polymerase chain reaction, Linear regression analysis
Abstract
Given finite resources, intense investment in one life history trait is expected to reduce investment in others. Although telomere length appears to be strongly tied to age in many taxa, telomere maintenance requires energy. We therefore hypothesize that telomere maintenance may trade off against other life history characters. We used natural variation in laboratory populations of Atlantic silversides (Menidia menidia) to study the relationship between growth, fecundity, life expectancy, and relative telomere length. In keeping with several other studies on fishes, we found no clear dependence of telomere length on age. However, we did find that more fecund fish tended to have both reduced life expectancy and shorter telomeres. This result is consistent with the hypothesis that there is a trade-off between telomere maintenance and reproductive output.
Recommended Citation
Gao, Jin and Munch, Stephan B., "Does Reproductive Investment Decrease Telomere Length in Menidia menidia?" (2015). Department of Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications. 4.
https://commons.library.stonybrook.edu/dbme-articles/4
Comments
Published PLoS ONE 10(5): e0125674. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0125674
Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this work.