An integrative view of senescence in nature

Gaillard, Jean‐Michel; Lemaître, Jean‐François

doi:10.1111/1365-2435.13506

Cited by 66 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 120 publications

(183 reference statements)

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“…The last decades have seen an increasing interest for the study of ageing in the wild (Monaghan et al 2008;Fletcher and Selman 2015;Gaillard and Lemaître 2020). The starting point of this infatuation is undeniably the compilation of evidence reporting that -in populations of animals in the wild -senescence occurs in demographic performance (actuarial senescence: Brunet-Rossinni & Austad, 2006;Nussey et al, 2013; reproductive senescence: Lemaître & Gaillard, 2017;Nussey et al, 2013), phenotypic performance (body mass: Douhard et al, 2017;Nussey et al 2011; foraging efficiency: Lecomte et al, 2010;MacNulty et al, 2009) and physiological traits (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…immune parameters, Nussey et al 2012;haematological parameters, Jégo et al 2014;steroid levels, Sugianto et al 2020). Nowadays, the age-specific decline in demographic and physiological performance is considered to be the rule rather than the exception in the wild, at least in mammals and birds (Gaillard & Lemaître, 2020;Nussey et al, 2013; but see also Zajitschek et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Animal populations in which individuals are monitored from birth to death in the wild provide a unique (but largely untapped) resource for studying individual differences in health and mortality risk at old ages (Gaillard and Lemaître 2020;Lemaître et al 2020b). Multiple lines of evidence emphasize the relevance of such longitudinal and individually-based data.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Epigenetic clock and DNA methylation studies of roe deer in the wild

Lemaître¹,

Rey²,

Gaillard³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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DNA methylation-based biomarkers of aging (epigenetic clocks) promise to lead to new insights in the evolutionary biology of ageing. Relatively little is known about how the natural environment affects epigenetic aging effects in wild species. In this study, we took advantage of a unique long-term (>40 years) longitudinal monitoring of individual roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) living in two wild populations (Chize and Trois Fontaines, France) facing different ecological contexts to investigate the relationship between chronological age and levels of DNA methylation (DNAm). We generated novel DNA methylation data from n=90 blood samples using a custom methylation array (HorvathMammalMethylChip40). We present several three DNA methylation-based estimators of age (DNAm or epigenetic age), which were trained in males, females, and both sexes combined. We investigated how sex differences influenced the relationship between DNAm age and chronological age through the use of sex-specific epigenetic clocks. Our results highlight that both populations and sex influence the epigenetic age, with the bias toward a stronger male average age acceleration (i.e. differences between epigenetic age and chronological ages) particularly pronounced in the population facing harsh environmental conditions. Further, we identify the main sites of epigenetic alteration that have distinct aging patterns across the two sexes. These findings open the door to promising avenues of research at the crossroad of evolutionary biology and biogerontology.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Epigenetic clock and DNA methylation studies of roe deer in the wild

Lemaître¹,

Rey²,

Gaillard³

et al. 2020

Preprint

Self Cite

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“…The age at onset and rate of senescent decline vary widely among species, among populations of the same species, and even among individuals within the same population (1). Understanding the reasons for this variability is of great importance for the field of biogerontology, as well as from an evolutionary and ecological perspective (2). In evolutionary terms, senescence can be explained by a decline in the strength of natural selection with age (3).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…It is also interesting to consider how much of the observed among-individual variation in senescence rates is actually explained by offspring sex ratio. Theoretical and empirical evidence is accumulating in that among-individual variation in senescence rates is likely explained by several interacting factors, including genetics and environmental conditions experienced throughout life (2). The relative contribution of offspring sex ratio to the observed among-individual variation in senescence rates remains to be carefully explored.…”

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confidence: 99%

Late-life costs of raising sons in bighorn sheep

Froy

Gamelon

2020

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Why and when should organisms elongate their telomeres? Elaborations on the ‘excess resources elongation’ and ‘last resort elongation’ hypotheses

Gómez‐Blanco,

Tobler,

Hasselquist

2023

Ecology and Evolution

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Telomere length and telomere shortening are thought to be critical cellular attributes and processes that are related to an individual's life span and fitness. The general pattern across most taxa is that after birth telomere length gradually decreases with age. Telomere protection and restoration mechanisms are usually assumed to reduce the rate of shortening or at most keep telomere length constant. However, here we have compiled a list of 26 articles showing that there is an increasing number of studies reporting apparent elongation of telomeres (i.e., a net increase in TL from timet to timet+1) often in a considerable proportion of the individuals studied. Moreover, the few studies which have studied telomere elongation in detail show that increases in telomere length are unlikely to be due to measurement error alone. In this article, we argue that episodes of telomere elongation deserve more attention as they could reflect individual strategies to optimise life histories and maximise fitness, which may not be reflected in the overall telomere dynamics patterns. We propose that patterns of telomere (net) elongation may be partly determined by other factors than those causing telomere shortening, and therefore deserve analyses specifically targeted to investigate the occurrence of telomere elongation. We elaborate on two ecological hypotheses that have been proposed to explain patterns of telomere elongation (the ‘excess resources elongation’ and the ‘last resort elongation’ hypothesis) and we discuss the current evidence for (or against) these hypotheses and propose ways to test them.

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An integrative view of senescence in nature

Abstract: Jean-Michel Gaillard and Jean-François Lemaître have contributed equally and both should be considered as first author.

Cited by 66 publications

References 120 publications

Epigenetic clock and DNA methylation studies of roe deer in the wild

Epigenetic clock and DNA methylation studies of roe deer in the wild

Late-life costs of raising sons in bighorn sheep

Why and when should organisms elongate their telomeres? Elaborations on the ‘excess resources elongation’ and ‘last resort elongation’ hypotheses

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