Parents' genes determine ageing speed of offspring

In a new study, scientists have investigated how parents genes determine the ageing speed oft their offspring.

Researchers from Lund University conducted a study on small birds, to find various factors which affect whether chicks are born with long or short chromosome ends, called telomeres.

The genetic make-up of human cells consists of genes lined up on chromosomes. The ends of the chromosomes, telomeres, protect the chromosomes from sticking to each other. The longer the telomeres, the longer time the chromosomes are able to function. And conversely, the shorter these ends, the less time left for the chromosomes, and thereby also for the cells to function properly.

In the present study, researchers from Lund University looked for explanations for the large variation in telomere length in newborn individuals. This begged the question, because it should be advantageous to start life with longer telomeres rather than shorter telomeres.

Asghar Muhammad, one of the researchers behind the study, said that it was remarkable that already so early on in life, there were already such major differences between individuals, both in humans and in animals.

The study results showed that the length of the telomeres in this songbird depended on a fairly even distribution of hereditary and non-hereditary factors. It appears that the older the female is at the time of the chicks' birth, the longer the chicks' chromosome ends will be. The non-hereditary factors consist of various aspects connected specifically to the female, not to the male.

Asghar Muhammad observed that the great reed warblers differed from humans in this, as previous research had shown that the non-hereditary factors which were significant to chromosome ends in human offspring were connected to the father rather than the mother, and said that the older the father, the longer the telomeres.