Data from: Links between parental life histories of wild salmon and the telomere lengths of their offspring

The importance of parental contributions to offspring development and subsequent performance is self-evident at a genomic level; however, parents can also affect offspring fitness by indirect genetic and environmental routes. The life history strategy that an individual adopts will be influenced by both genes and environment; and this may have important consequences for offspring. Recent research has linked telomere dynamics (i.e. telomere length and loss) in early life to future viability and longevity. Moreover, a number of studies have reported a heritable component to telomere length across a range of vertebrates, though the effects of other parental contribution pathways have been far less studied. By using wild Atlantic salmon with different parental life histories in an experimental split-brood IVF mating design and rearing the resulting families under standardised conditions, we show that there can be significant links between parental life history and offspring telomere length (studied at the embryo and fry stage). Maternal life history traits, in particular egg size, were most strongly related to offspring telomere length at the embryonic stage, but then became weaker through development. In contrast, paternal life history traits, such as the father’s growth rate in early life, had a greater association in the later stages of offspring development. However, offspring telomere length was not significantly related to either maternal or paternal age at reproduction, nor to paternal sperm telomere length. This study demonstrates both the complexity and the importance of parental factors that can influence telomere length in early life.

从基因组层面来看，亲本对子代发育及后续表现的重要性不言而喻；不过亲本还可通过间接遗传与环境途径影响子代的适应度。个体所采取的生活史策略会同时受到基因与环境的影响，而这或许会对子代产生重要影响。近期已有研究将早期生命过程中的端粒动态（telomere dynamics，即端粒长度与端粒丢失）与未来存活力及寿命关联起来。此外，多项研究已在多种脊椎动物中发现端粒长度存在可遗传组分，不过针对其他亲本贡献途径的影响，相关研究仍较为匮乏。本研究选取具有不同亲本生活史特征的野生大西洋鲑，采用实验分巢体外受精（IVF）交配设计，并将所得家系置于标准化条件下培育，结果表明亲本生活史与子代端粒长度（于胚胎及鱼苗阶段测定）之间存在显著关联。母本的生活史性状（尤其是卵大小）与胚胎阶段的子代端粒长度关联最为紧密，但这一关联会随着发育进程逐渐减弱。与之相反，父本的生活史性状（如父本早期生长速率）在子代发育的后期阶段关联程度更高。不过，子代端粒长度与亲本繁殖时的母本或父本年龄均无显著关联，与父本精子端粒长度亦无显著关联。本研究证实了可影响早期生命过程中端粒长度的亲本因素兼具复杂性与重要性。