Seasonal variation in telomere dynamics in African striped mice

Francois Criscuolo (1) , Neville Pillay (2) , Sandrine Zahn (1) , Carsten Schradin (1, 2)

1 DEPE-IPHC - Département Ecologie, Physiologie et Ethologie
2 WITS - University of the Witwatersrand [Johannesburg]

Telomere shortening has been used as an indicator of aging and is believed to accelerate under harsh environmental conditions. This can be attributed to the fact that telomere shortening has often been regarded as non-reversible and negatively impacting fitness. However, studies of laboratory mice indicate that they may be able to repair telomere loss to recover from environmental harshness, as indicated by recent studies in hibernating rodents. We studied seasonal variation in telomere dynamics in African striped mice (Rhabdomys pumilio) living in a highly seasonal environment. In our annual species, individuals born in the moist spring (high food availability) need to survive the harsh dry summer (low food availability) to be able to reproduce in the following spring. We studied the effect of the harsh dry vs. the benign moist season on telomere dynamics. We also tested whether telomere length and changes in telomere length were associated with the probability that individuals disappeared form the population during the dry season. Male but not female stripped mice showed age-related telomere erosion. Telomeres were longer at the beginning of the dry season compared to the rest of the year. Telomeres increased significantly in length during the moist season. Neither telomere length at the onset of the dry season nor telomere loss over the dry season predicted whether or not individuals disappeared. In conclusion, our data suggest that seasonal attrition and restoring of telomeres also occurs in non-hibernating wild rodents living in hot food restricted environments

Mots clés: telomere length; telomere lengthening; seasonal variation; age; mice

Domaines: Sciences de l'environnement

Francois Criscuolo, Neville Pillay, Sandrine Zahn, Carsten Schradin. Seasonal variation in telomere dynamics in African striped mice. Oecologia, 2020. ⟨hal-02985514⟩