Parallel telomere shortening in multiple body tissues owing to malaria infection

Several studies have shown associations between shorter telomere length in blood and weakened immune function, susceptibility to infections, and increased risk of morbidity and mortality. Recently, we have shown that malaria accelerates telomere attrition in blood cells and shortens lifespan in birds. However, the impact of infections on telomere attrition in different body tissues within an individual is unknown. Here, we tested whether malarial infection leads to parallel telomere shortening in blood and tissue samples from different organs. We experimentally infected siskins (Spinus spinus) with the avian malaria parasite Plasmodium ashfordi, and used real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to measure telomere length in control and experimentally infected siskins. We found that experimentally infected birds showed faster telomere attrition in blood over the course of infection compared with control individuals (repeatedly measured over 105 days post-infection (DPI)). S...

多项研究已证实，血液中端粒（telomere）长度较短与免疫功能减弱、感染易感性升高以及发病和死亡风险增加存在关联。近期本团队研究证实，疟疾可加速鸟类血细胞的端粒损耗并缩短其寿命。但目前仍不明确感染对个体体内不同组织中端粒损耗的具体影响。本研究就此展开实验，以探究疟疾感染是否会使血液及不同器官组织样本中的端粒出现同步缩短。我们以阿氏疟原虫（Plasmodium ashfordi，一种禽疟原虫）对欧亚金翅雀（Spinus spinus）进行实验性感染，并通过实时定量聚合酶链式反应（PCR）检测对照组与实验组金翅雀的端粒长度。结果显示，相较于对照组个体，实验感染的鸟类在感染期间（感染后105天内多次取样检测）的血液端粒损耗速度更快。S...