Longitudinal studies confirm faster telomere erosion in short-lived bird species

Abstract

Evidence is accumulating that telomeres become shorter with advancing age and possibly explain some of the observed variation in longevity. Cross-sec-tional analyses have shown that species with shorter lifespans lose more telomeric repeats with age than species with longer lifespans. Using existing data from longitudinal studies performed on several bird species, we confirmed a negative relationship between the rate of telomere shortening and maximum longevity.