Research Paper Volume 11, Issue 21 pp 9829—9845
Slower rates of accumulation of DNA damage in leukocytes correlate with longer lifespans across several species of birds and mammals
- 1 Telomeres and Telomerase Group, Molecular Oncology Program, Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), Madrid E-28029, Spain
- 2 Veterinary Department, Madrid-Zoo Aquarium, Madrid 28011, Spain
Received: August 14, 2019 Accepted: October 28, 2019 Published: November 15, 2019
https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.102430How to Cite
Copyright © 2019 Whittemore et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Although there is previous evidence showing an increase in various types of DNA damage with aging in mice and humans, a comparative study determining accumulation rates of DNA double strand breaks, as determined by presence of phosphorylated histone H2AX (γH2AX), in leukocytes of individuals of different ages from phylogenetically distinct species from birds to mammals was lacking. Here, we demonstrate that the rate of accumulation of DNA damage as measured by the DNA damage marker γH2AX correlates with species longevity in dolphins, goats, reindeer, American flamingos, and griffon vultures. In particular, we find that species that show slower rates of accumulation of the DNA damage marker γH2AX also live longer.