作者
Victoria J Sugrue, Joseph Alan Zoller, Pritika Narayan, Ake T Lu, Oscar J Ortega-Recalde, Matthew J Grant, C Simon Bawden, Skye R Rudiger, Amin Haghani, Donna M Bond, Reuben R Hore, Michael Garratt, Karen E Sears, Nan Wang, Xiangdong William Yang, Russell G Snell, Timothy A Hore, Steve Horvath
发表日期
2021/7/6
期刊
Elife
卷号
10
页码范围
e64932
出版商
eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
简介
In mammals, females generally live longer than males. Nevertheless, the mechanisms underpinning sex-dependent longevity are currently unclear. Epigenetic clocks are powerful biological biomarkers capable of precisely estimating chronological age and identifying novel factors influencing the aging rate using only DNA methylation data. In this study, we developed the first epigenetic clock for domesticated sheep (Ovis aries), which can predict chronological age with a median absolute error of 5.1 months. We have discovered that castrated male sheep have a decelerated aging rate compared to intact males, mediated at least in part by the removal of androgens. Furthermore, we identified several androgen-sensitive CpG dinucleotides that become progressively hypomethylated with age in intact males, but remain stable in castrated males and females. Comparable sex-specific methylation differences in MKLN1 also exist in bat skin and a range of mouse tissues that have high androgen receptor expression, indicating that it may drive androgen-dependent hypomethylation in divergent mammalian species. In characterizing these sites, we identify biologically plausible mechanisms explaining how androgens drive male-accelerated aging.
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