Meeting Abstract

P1.23  Thursday, Jan. 3  Heritability of telomere length in a wild population of Savannah sparrows (Passerculus sandwichensis) BRINDA, S.J.*; BENDER, A.; MAUCK, R.A.; HAUSSMANN, M.F.; Kenyon College, Gambier OH; Bowdoin College, Brunswick ME; Kenyon College, Gambier OH; Kenyon College, Gambier OH and Bowdoin College, Brunswick ME haussmannm@kenyon.edu

It has been shown in a variety of eukaryotic species that telomere dynamics affect life-history traits such as rates of growth and aging, onset of disease, reproductive success, and survival. Variability in telomere length among individuals of the same age is determined by a host of interacting environmental and genetic factors. Of the genetic factors, the two primary determinants of telomere length are the regulation of telomere shortening and maintenance during the lifetime of the organism, and the initial telomere length established in the zygote. Intraspecies comparisons have demonstrated that initial telomere length is related to organismal survivorship and lifespan, however, little is known about the heritability of this trait in natural populations. In this study, we estimated heritability of initial telomere length in 21 clutches of Savannah sparrows (Passerculus sandwichensis) based on full-sib relationships in a wild population on Kent Island, New Brunswick, Canada. Mean nestling telomere length in the twenty-one clutches was 6.33 � 0.15 kb and ranged from 5.98 kb to 6.72 kb. Heritability of nestling telomere length was 0.97 � 0.08. Our heritability estimates are based on assumed full-sib relationships, and so our analysis does not consider genetic variance due to maternal or dominance effects. Therefore, this heritability estimate should be viewed as an upper limit for heritability of nestling telomere length in Savannah sparrows. Pairing this finding with the growing evidence that telomere length has effects on fitness suggests that there may be selective pressure for long telomeres.