Abstract
We verified whether telomere length shortens with age in the loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) by measuring telomere lengths (relative telomere to single copy gene [T/S] ratios) in whole blood and epidermis from 20 captive individuals with a real-time PCR method. There was no significant correlation between age and relative T/S ratios in blood. Although the correlation between age and relative T/S ratios in epidermis was not significant, older turtles had smaller relative T/S ratios in epidermis. It was thus demonstrated that telomere length in epidermis could be a useful age estimator for sea turtles. Relative age information obtained with this simple, rapid, non-invasive technique may help to advance our understanding of the ecology of endangered sea turtles. This is the first publication on age-related changes in telomere length among chelonians.
