Testing for paternal influences on offspring telomere length in a human cohort in the Philippines
Dan T. A. Eisenber, M. Geoffrey Hayes, Peter H. Rej, Paulita Duazo, Christopher W. Kuzawa
This article discusses the shortening of telomeres, the ends of chromosomes that shorten with cell division, age, stress, and even environmental exposure. Telomere shortening has been linked with spaceflight in the past (i.e. NASA study on the Kelly brothers); however, telomere length is thought to be selected against due to negative effects on health and longevity, cause impaired immune function, and deterioration with age. This article discusses the possible effects of paternal experiences on telomere length in human offspring. Sperm telomeres lengthen with age, as well as plasticity, but oxidative stress indicates a shortening. For this multigenerational study, they first look at the connection between telomere length in adult offspring and paternal smoking; however, they observe a correlation between paternal knee height (a measure of nutritional health as a child/infant) and stress in the fathers.
They found that decreased paternal knee height predicted longer offspring telomere length, opposite of their predictions. They found no correlation between smoking or stressors to offspring telomere length. They note that knee height may be the physiological effects of developing testes and germ cells (earlier puberty=longer telomeres, shorter leg length, and longer trunk), or correlated with biological, genetic, or social pathways that could have an effect on telomere length.
I thought this article was interesting due to the different genetic, social, and environmental effects on telomere length, especially in light of the Kelly spaceflight study.
I thought this article was interesting due to the different genetic, social, and environmental effects on telomere length, especially in light of the Kelly spaceflight study.
Kailie Batsche
March AJPA update
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