Universal prediction of vertebrate species age at maturity.

ABSTRACT: Animal age at maturity can be used as a universal and simple predictor of species extinction risk. At present, methods to estimate age at maturity are typically species-specific, limiting comparisons among species, or are infeasible due to practical constraints. To overcome this, here we develop a universal predictor of species-level age at maturity for vertebrates. We show that modelling the frequency of 'CG' sequences (CpG sites) in gene promoter regions yields rapid predictions of vertebrate age at maturity. Our models predict age at maturity with remarkable accuracy and generalisability, with median error rates of 30% (less than 1 year) and are robust to genome assemblies of varying quality. We generate predictions for 1912 vertebrate species for which age at maturity estimates were pr

SUBMITTER: Budd AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11526025 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature