Social isolation shortens telomeres in African Grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus erithacus).
Telomeres, the caps of eukaryotic chromosomes, control chromosome stability and cellular senescence, but aging and exposure to chronic stress are suspected to cause attrition of telomere length. We investigated the effect of social isolation on telomere length in the highly social and intelligent Af...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2014-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3976323?pdf=render |
| _version_ | 1818291456800980992 |
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| author | Denise Aydinonat Dustin J Penn Steve Smith Yoshan Moodley Franz Hoelzl Felix Knauer Franz Schwarzenberger |
| author_facet | Denise Aydinonat Dustin J Penn Steve Smith Yoshan Moodley Franz Hoelzl Felix Knauer Franz Schwarzenberger |
| author_sort | Denise Aydinonat |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Telomeres, the caps of eukaryotic chromosomes, control chromosome stability and cellular senescence, but aging and exposure to chronic stress are suspected to cause attrition of telomere length. We investigated the effect of social isolation on telomere length in the highly social and intelligent African Grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus erithacus). Our study population consisted of single-housed (n = 26) and pair-housed (n = 19) captive individuals between 0.75 to 45 years of age. Relative telomere length of erythrocyte DNA was measured by quantitative real-time PCR. We found that telomere length declined with age (p<0.001), and socially isolated parrots had significantly shorter telomeres compared to pair-housed birds (p<0.001) - even among birds of similar ages. Our findings provide the first evidence that social isolation affects telomere length, which supports the hypothesis that telomeres provide a biomarker indicating exposure to chronic stress. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T02:44:22Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-733ff06e0677429b831517f8839b2dc7 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T02:44:22Z |
| publishDate | 2014-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-733ff06e0677429b831517f8839b2dc72022-12-22T00:02:13ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032014-01-0194e9383910.1371/journal.pone.0093839Social isolation shortens telomeres in African Grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus erithacus).Denise AydinonatDustin J PennSteve SmithYoshan MoodleyFranz HoelzlFelix KnauerFranz SchwarzenbergerTelomeres, the caps of eukaryotic chromosomes, control chromosome stability and cellular senescence, but aging and exposure to chronic stress are suspected to cause attrition of telomere length. We investigated the effect of social isolation on telomere length in the highly social and intelligent African Grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus erithacus). Our study population consisted of single-housed (n = 26) and pair-housed (n = 19) captive individuals between 0.75 to 45 years of age. Relative telomere length of erythrocyte DNA was measured by quantitative real-time PCR. We found that telomere length declined with age (p<0.001), and socially isolated parrots had significantly shorter telomeres compared to pair-housed birds (p<0.001) - even among birds of similar ages. Our findings provide the first evidence that social isolation affects telomere length, which supports the hypothesis that telomeres provide a biomarker indicating exposure to chronic stress.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3976323?pdf=render |
| spellingShingle | Denise Aydinonat Dustin J Penn Steve Smith Yoshan Moodley Franz Hoelzl Felix Knauer Franz Schwarzenberger Social isolation shortens telomeres in African Grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus erithacus). PLoS ONE |
| title | Social isolation shortens telomeres in African Grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus erithacus). |
| title_full | Social isolation shortens telomeres in African Grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus erithacus). |
| title_fullStr | Social isolation shortens telomeres in African Grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus erithacus). |
| title_full_unstemmed | Social isolation shortens telomeres in African Grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus erithacus). |
| title_short | Social isolation shortens telomeres in African Grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus erithacus). |
| title_sort | social isolation shortens telomeres in african grey parrots psittacus erithacus erithacus |
| url | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3976323?pdf=render |
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