Epigenetic Clock in Bears: A Simple Cost-Effective Blood DNA Methylation-Based Age Estimation Method Applicable to Multiple Bear Species.

ABSTRACT: Age is an essential factor to understand the life history and demographic parameters of wildlife. Previously, we established an age estimation method for brown bears based on blood DNA methylation level. In this study, we first applied the brown bear-specific age estimation model to other bear species, including Asian black, polar, sun, and Andean bears. Using blood DNA, we performed bisulfite pyrosequencing to determine the methylation levels at four cytosine-phosphate-guanine (CpG) sites adjacent to a single gene, SLC12A5. The best model specific to brown bears estimated their ages with satisfactory accuracy, with mean absolute error (MAE) of 1.5, 2.1, 2.2, and 0.4 years for Asian black (52 samples from 16 captive and 36 wild bears), polar (27 samples from 21 captive bears), sun b

SUBMITTER: Shimozuru M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12055220 | biostudies-literature | 2025 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature