Accurate epigenetic aging in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), an essential step in the conservation of at-risk dolphins

Ashley Barratclough; Cynthia R. Smith; Forrest M. Gomez; Theoni Photopoulou; Ryan Takeshita; Enrico Pirotta; Len Thomas; Abby M. McClain; Celeste Parry; Joseph A. Zoller; Steve Horvath; Lori H. Schwacke

doi:10.3390/jzbg2030030

Accurate epigenetic aging in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), an essential step in the conservation of at-risk dolphins

Ashley Barratclough^*, Cynthia R. Smith, Forrest M. Gomez, Theoni Photopoulou, Ryan Takeshita, Enrico Pirotta, Len Thomas, Abby M. McClain, Celeste Parry, Joseph A. Zoller, Steve Horvath, Lori H. Schwacke

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

Epigenetics, specifically DNA methylation, allows for the estimation of animal age from blood or remotely sampled skin. This multi-tissue epigenetic age estimation clock uses 110 longitudinal samples from 34 Navy bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), identifying 195 cytosine-phosphate-guanine sites associated with chronological aging via cross-validation with one individual left out in each fold (R² = 0.95). With a median absolute error of 2.5 years, this clock improves age estimation capacity in wild dolphins, helping conservation efforts and enabling a better understanding of population demographics

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	416-420
Number of pages	5
Journal	Journal of Zoological and Botanical Gardens
Volume	2
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3390/jzbg2030030
Publication status	Published - 6 Aug 2021

Keywords

DNA methylation
Epigenetics
Aging
Bottlenose dolphin
Chronological age

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Barratclough_2021_JZBG_AccurateEpigenetic_CC
Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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Barratclough, A., Smith, C. R., Gomez, F. M., Photopoulou, T., Takeshita, R., Pirotta, E., Thomas, L., McClain, A. M., Parry, C., Zoller, J. A., Horvath, S., & Schwacke, L. H. (2021). Accurate epigenetic aging in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), an essential step in the conservation of at-risk dolphins. Journal of Zoological and Botanical Gardens, 2(3), 416-420. https://doi.org/10.3390/jzbg2030030

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title = "Accurate epigenetic aging in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), an essential step in the conservation of at-risk dolphins",

abstract = "Epigenetics, specifically DNA methylation, allows for the estimation of animal age from blood or remotely sampled skin. This multi-tissue epigenetic age estimation clock uses 110 longitudinal samples from 34 Navy bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), identifying 195 cytosine-phosphate-guanine sites associated with chronological aging via cross-validation with one individual left out in each fold (R2 = 0.95). With a median absolute error of 2.5 years, this clock improves age estimation capacity in wild dolphins, helping conservation efforts and enabling a better understanding of population demographics",

keywords = "DNA methylation, Epigenetics, Aging, Bottlenose dolphin, Chronological age",

author = "Ashley Barratclough and Smith, {Cynthia R.} and Gomez, {Forrest M.} and Theoni Photopoulou and Ryan Takeshita and Enrico Pirotta and Len Thomas and McClain, {Abby M.} and Celeste Parry and Zoller, {Joseph A.} and Steve Horvath and Schwacke, {Lori H.}",

note = "Funding: This research was funded by SERDP grant RC20-C2-1097 awarded to Peter Tyack and Prescott Award NA20NMF4390132 awarded to Ashley Barratclough.",

year = "2021",

month = aug,

day = "6",

doi = "10.3390/jzbg2030030",

language = "English",

volume = "2",

pages = "416--420",

journal = "Journal of Zoological and Botanical Gardens",

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Barratclough, A, Smith, CR, Gomez, FM, Photopoulou, T, Takeshita, R, Pirotta, E , Thomas, L, McClain, AM, Parry, C, Zoller, JA, Horvath, S & Schwacke, LH 2021, 'Accurate epigenetic aging in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), an essential step in the conservation of at-risk dolphins', Journal of Zoological and Botanical Gardens, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 416-420. https://doi.org/10.3390/jzbg2030030

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T1 - Accurate epigenetic aging in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), an essential step in the conservation of at-risk dolphins

AU - Barratclough, Ashley

AU - Smith, Cynthia R.

AU - Gomez, Forrest M.

AU - Photopoulou, Theoni

AU - Takeshita, Ryan

AU - Pirotta, Enrico

AU - Thomas, Len

AU - McClain, Abby M.

AU - Parry, Celeste

AU - Zoller, Joseph A.

AU - Horvath, Steve

AU - Schwacke, Lori H.

N1 - Funding: This research was funded by SERDP grant RC20-C2-1097 awarded to Peter Tyack and Prescott Award NA20NMF4390132 awarded to Ashley Barratclough.

PY - 2021/8/6

Y1 - 2021/8/6

N2 - Epigenetics, specifically DNA methylation, allows for the estimation of animal age from blood or remotely sampled skin. This multi-tissue epigenetic age estimation clock uses 110 longitudinal samples from 34 Navy bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), identifying 195 cytosine-phosphate-guanine sites associated with chronological aging via cross-validation with one individual left out in each fold (R2 = 0.95). With a median absolute error of 2.5 years, this clock improves age estimation capacity in wild dolphins, helping conservation efforts and enabling a better understanding of population demographics

AB - Epigenetics, specifically DNA methylation, allows for the estimation of animal age from blood or remotely sampled skin. This multi-tissue epigenetic age estimation clock uses 110 longitudinal samples from 34 Navy bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), identifying 195 cytosine-phosphate-guanine sites associated with chronological aging via cross-validation with one individual left out in each fold (R2 = 0.95). With a median absolute error of 2.5 years, this clock improves age estimation capacity in wild dolphins, helping conservation efforts and enabling a better understanding of population demographics

KW - DNA methylation

KW - Epigenetics

KW - Aging

KW - Bottlenose dolphin

KW - Chronological age

U2 - 10.3390/jzbg2030030

DO - 10.3390/jzbg2030030

M3 - Article

SN - 2673-5636

VL - 2

SP - 416

EP - 420

JO - Journal of Zoological and Botanical Gardens

JF - Journal of Zoological and Botanical Gardens

IS - 3

ER -

Accurate epigenetic aging in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), an essential step in the conservation of at-risk dolphins

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Keywords

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