Large-scale parent-child comparison confirms a strong paternal influence on telomere length.
Telomere length is documented to have a hereditary component, and both paternal and X-linked inheritance have been proposed. We investigated blood cell telomere length in 962 individuals with an age range between 0 and 102 years. Telomere length correlations were analyzed between parent-child pairs in different age groups and between grandparent-grandchild pairs. A highly significant correlation between the father's and the child's telomere length was observed (r=0.454, P<0.001), independent of the sex of the offspring (father-son: r=0.465, P<0.001; father-daughter: r=0.484, P<0.001). For mothers, the correlations were weaker (mother-child: r=0.148, P=0.098; mother-son: r=0.080, P=0.561; mother-daughter: r=0.297, P=0.013). A positive telomere length correlation was also observed for grandparent-grandchild pairs (r=0.272, P=0.013). Our findings indicate that fathers contribute significantly stronger to the telomere length of the offspring compared with mothers (P=0.012), but we cannot exclude a maternal influence on the daughter's telomeres. Interestingly, the father-child correlations diminished with increasing age (P=0.022), suggesting that nonheritable factors have an impact on telomere length dynamics during life.
Nordfjäll
Katarina
K
Department of Medical Biosciences, Pathology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
Svenson
Ulrika
U
Norrback
Karl-Fredrik
KF
Adolfsson
Rolf
R
Roos
Göran
G
D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D005220:Fathers; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009035:Mothers; D010375:Pedigree; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D016615:Telomere / Q000378:metabolism*