Meeting Abstract
Although it has long been assumed that exposure to stressors hastens aging, recent studies have found that these effects can span more than one generation. Stressors experienced by parents often have negative long-term consequences for offspring health and longevity. However, the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. Telomeres are highly conserved, repetitive DNA sections at chromosome ends that are involved in cellular aging. Telomere dynamics (length and loss rate) may be an important mechanism underlying the transmission of stress effects from parents to offspring. Stressors experienced by parents may directly influence germ cell telomere length prior to fertilization, which may then be transferred to offspring. Here we experimentally exposed 14 captive male house sparrows (Passer domesticus) to an ecologically relevant stressor, an immune challenge (lipopolysaccharide injection), or a control treatment (vehicle only injection) and examined the effects on the telomere length of red blood cells and spermatozoa using qPCR. Results of this study will be discussed within the context of life-history theory.
