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.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Aug 06, 2021
- Source ID
- 10.3390/jzbg2030030
Entities
People
- Abby M McClain
- Ashley Barratclough
- Celeste Parry
- Cynthia R. Smith
- Enrico Pirotta
- Forrest M. Gomez
- Joseph A. Zoller
- Len Thomas
- Lori H. Schwacke
- Ryan Takeshita
- Steve Horvath
- Theoni Photopoulou
Organizations
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program