The tarnished silver spoon? Trade-off between prenatal growth and telomere length in wild boar.

ABSTRACT: Life-history theory predicts a trade-off between growth rates and lifespan, which is reflected by telomere length, a biomarker of somatic state. We investigated the correlation between telomere length and early-life growth of wild boar piglets, Sus scrofa, kept under semi-natural conditions with high food availability to examine our hypothesis that increased pre- and postnatal growth will lead to telomere length attrition, but that a high supply of nutrient may provide the possibility to compensate telomere loss via telomere repair mechanisms. As predicted, our data showed a clear negative correlation between birth body mass and initial telomere length: heavier neonates had shorter telomeres at birth, and we did not find an influence of the mother on initial telomere length. Body mass at b

SUBMITTER: Spießberger M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9298079 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature