The length of telomeres (i.e. the protective non‐coding DNA repeat sequences capping the end of eukaryotic chromosomes) is drawing an increasing attention in ecology and evolution as a biomarker of individual state and fate. Bird erythrocytes are nucleated and telomere measurements using blood derived DNA has become the gold standard in avian biology. However, blood sampling is not trivial and not achievable under all field conditions. We investigated whether feather DNA could be used as an alternative or complementary approach to blood DNA when assessing telomere length with the quantitative PCR method. Indeed, investigating telomere length in different tissues may provide more detailed information regarding both the determinants and the importance of telomere length for avian life histories. We collected tertiary feathers on the same day as a blood sample in adult and 12‐day‐old nestling pied flycatchers Ficedula hypoleuca. Our results show a positive but moderate relationship between telomere length measured using DNA derived from blood and feather samples. This relationship was stronger in nestlings than in adults. Nestlings had longer telomeres in blood than in feathers while no significant difference was observed in adults. Hence, our study demonstrates that feathers can provide a complementary approach to blood for telomere measurements in wild birds, and we discuss further methodological considerations when using feathers for telomere measures. Telomeres seem to show faster erosion with age in blood than feathers, which may account for the lower correlation in telomere lengths between the two tissues in adults.

中文翻译：

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捕蝇器中羽毛与血细胞之间端粒长度的相关性

端粒的长度（即保护真核染色体末端的非编码性DNA重复编码保护序列）作为个体状态和命运的生物标志物，在生态学和进化中受到越来越多的关注。鸟类红细胞被成核，使用血液衍生的DNA进行端粒测量已成为禽类生物学的金标准。但是，在所有野外条件下采血都不是轻而易举的事情。我们研究了用定量PCR方法评估端粒长度时，羽毛DNA是否可以用作血液DNA的替代方法或补充方法。确实，研究不同组织中的端粒长度可能会提供有关决定因素和端粒长度对鸟类生活史的重要性的更详细的信息。小叶Ficedula hypoleuca。我们的结果表明，使用从血液和羽毛样品中提取的DNA测得的端粒长度之间存在正相关关系，但存在中等关系。这种关系在雏鸟中比在成年人中更强。雏鸟的血液端粒比羽毛的端粒更长，而成年鸟则没有显着差异。因此，我们的研究表明，羽毛可以为野鸟的端粒测量提供血液补充方法，并且我们讨论了使用羽毛进行端粒测量时的方法学考虑。随着年龄的增长，端粒似乎表现出比羽毛更快的侵蚀，这可能解释了成年人两个组织之间端粒长度的相关性较低。