Date Approved
12-16-2022
Graduate Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Biology (M.S.)
Degree Program
Biology
First Advisor
Amy L. Russell
Second Advisor
Charlyn G. Partridge
Third Advisor
Gerald S. Wilkinson
Academic Year
2022/2023
Abstract
Bats are the longest-lived mammalian order relative to body mass, but questions remain about relationships among mechanisms related to aging. Relative telomere length (rTL) decreases with age in most mammals, but the relationship between age and rTL is highly variable among the few bat taxa studied to date. More recently, DNA methylation (DNAm), a type of epigenetic regulation in which methyl groups are added to cytosine-phosphate-guanine (CpG) sites across the genome, has been shown to be highly predictive of age in many species of bats. We examine the relationships among age, rTL, and DNAm in Pteropus pumilus and P. hypomelanus. We hypothesized (1) there is a negative linear relationship between age and rTL and (2) rTL is significantly correlated with DNAm at some sites (rTL-associated differentially methylated positions, or tDMPs), especially those associated with age. We found a significant negative linear relationship between age and rTL in P. hypomelanus, but no such relationship in P. pumilus. Additionally, for both species, few tDMPs were also significantly associated with age. Many genes near tDMPs in both species control regulatory and metabolic processes, suggesting that epigenetic regulation by DNAm of these genomic regions may have an impact on telomere length dynamics in bats.
ScholarWorks Citation
Forest, Erika E., "Relationships Among Age, Relative Telomere Length, and DNA Methylation in Pteropus Bats" (2022). Masters Theses. 1078.
https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/theses/1078
