Testing for paternal influences on offspring telomere length in a human cohort in the Philippines.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Telomeres, emerging biomarkers of aging, are comprised of DNA repeats located at chromosomal ends that shorten with cellular replication and age in most human tissues. In contrast, spermatocyte telomeres lengthen with age. These changes in telomere length (TL) appear to be heritable, as older paternal ages of conception (PAC) predict longer offspring TL. Mouse-model studies raise questions about the potential for effects of paternal experiences on human offspring TL, as they suggest that smoking, inflammation, DNA damage, and stressors all shorten sperm TL. Here, we examined whether factors from the paternal environment predict offspring TL as well as interact with PAC to predict offspring TL.

Materials and methods

Using data from the Philippines, we tested if smo

SUBMITTER: Eisenberg DTA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8109148 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature