hide
Free keywords:
Telomere; Telomerase; Arctica islandica; Longevity; Maintenance
Abstract:
The shortening of telomeres as a causative factor in ageing is a widely discussed hypothesis in ageing research.
The study of telomere length and its regenerating enzyme telomerase in the longest-lived non-colonial animal
on earth, Arctica islandica, should inform whether the maintenance of telomere length plays a role in reaching
the extreme maximumlifespan (MLSP) of N500 years in this species. Since longitudinalmeasurements on living
animals cannot be achieved, a cross-sectional analysis of a short-lived (MLSP 40 years from the Baltic Sea) and a
long-lived population (MLSP 226 years Northeast of Iceland) and in different tissues of young and old animals
from the Irish Sea was performed. A high heterogeneity of telomere length was observed in investigated
A. islandica over a wide age range (10–36 years for the Baltic Sea, 11–194 years for Irish Sea, 6–226 years for
Iceland). Constant telomerase activity and telomere lengths were detected at any age and in different tissues;
neither correlated with age or population habitat. Stable telomere maintenance might contribute to the long
lifespan of A. islandica. Telomere dynamics are no explanation for the distinctMLSPs of the examined populations
and thus the cause of it remains to be investigated.
