Early life growth and telomere length in wild boar piglets 2018

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 post-natal 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 birth correlated with body mass later in life and post-natal
growth rate did not affect telomere length. We observed an increase in
telomere length during postnatal development, suggesting that high food
availability allowed piglets to invest into both, growth and telomere
restoration. The increase in telomere length over the duration of the
study was not accompanied by telomerase activity, thus telomere elongation
was either caused by alternative mechanisms or by short pulses of
telomerase activity, that we missed. Taken together, this study suggests a
trade-off between investment into growth and telomere maintenance even
before birth and the possibility to compensate telomere attrition during
growth under high amounts of available energy.