TY - JOUR
T1 - Offspring's leukocyte telomere length, paternal age, and telomere elongation in sperm
AU - Kimura, Masayuki
AU - Cherkas, Lynn F.
AU - Kato, Bernet S.
AU - Demissie, Serkalem
AU - Hjelmborg, Jacob B.
AU - Brimacombe, Michael
AU - Cupples, Adrienne
AU - Hunkin, Janice L.
AU - Gardner, Jefferey P.
AU - Lu, Xiaobin
AU - Cao, Xiaojian
AU - Sastrasinh, Malinee
AU - Province, Michael A.
AU - Hunt, Steven C.
AU - Christensen, Kaare
AU - Levy, Daniel
AU - Spector, Tim D.
AU - Aviv, Abraham
PY - 2008/2
Y1 - 2008/2
N2 - Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is a complex genetic trait. It shortens with age and is associated with a host of aging-related disorders. Recent studies have observed that offspring of older fathers have longer LTLs. We explored the relation between paternal age and offspring's LTLs in 4 different cohorts. Moreover, we examined the potential cause of the paternal age on offspring's LTL by delineating telomere parameters in sperm donors. We measured LTL by Southern blots in Caucasian men and women (n=3365), aged 18-94 years, from the Offspring of the Framingham Heart Study (Framingham Offspring), the NHLBI Family Heart Study (NHLBI-Heart), the Longitudinal Study of Aging Danish Twins (Danish Twins), and the UK Adult Twin Registry (UK Twins). Using Southern blots, Q-FISH, and flow-FISH, we also measured telomere parameters in sperm from 46 young (<30 years) and older (>50 years) donors. Paternal age had an independent effect, expressed by a longer LTL in males of the Framingham Offspring and Danish Twins, males and females of the NHLBI-Heart, and females of UK Twins. For every additional year of paternal age, LTL in offspring increased at a magnitude ranging from half to more than twice of the annual attrition in LTL with age. Moreover, sperm telomere length analyses were compatible with the emergence in older men of a subset of sperm with elongated telomeres. Paternal age exerts a considerable effect on the offspring's LTL, a phenomenon which might relate to telomere elongation in sperm from older men. The implications of this effect deserve detailed study.
AB - Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is a complex genetic trait. It shortens with age and is associated with a host of aging-related disorders. Recent studies have observed that offspring of older fathers have longer LTLs. We explored the relation between paternal age and offspring's LTLs in 4 different cohorts. Moreover, we examined the potential cause of the paternal age on offspring's LTL by delineating telomere parameters in sperm donors. We measured LTL by Southern blots in Caucasian men and women (n=3365), aged 18-94 years, from the Offspring of the Framingham Heart Study (Framingham Offspring), the NHLBI Family Heart Study (NHLBI-Heart), the Longitudinal Study of Aging Danish Twins (Danish Twins), and the UK Adult Twin Registry (UK Twins). Using Southern blots, Q-FISH, and flow-FISH, we also measured telomere parameters in sperm from 46 young (<30 years) and older (>50 years) donors. Paternal age had an independent effect, expressed by a longer LTL in males of the Framingham Offspring and Danish Twins, males and females of the NHLBI-Heart, and females of UK Twins. For every additional year of paternal age, LTL in offspring increased at a magnitude ranging from half to more than twice of the annual attrition in LTL with age. Moreover, sperm telomere length analyses were compatible with the emergence in older men of a subset of sperm with elongated telomeres. Paternal age exerts a considerable effect on the offspring's LTL, a phenomenon which might relate to telomere elongation in sperm from older men. The implications of this effect deserve detailed study.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=40149086580&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pgen.0040037
DO - 10.1371/journal.pgen.0040037
M3 - Article
C2 - 18282113
AN - SCOPUS:40149086580
SN - 1553-7390
VL - 4
JO - PLoS genetics
JF - PLoS genetics
IS - 2
ER -