Because telomere length and dynamics relate to individual growth, reproductive investment and survival, telomeres have emerged as possible markers of individual quality. Here, we tested the hypothesis that, in species with parental care, parental telomere length can be a marker of parental quality that predicts offspring phenotype and survival. In king penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus), we experimentally swapped the single egg of 66 breeding pairs just after egg laying to disentangle the contribution of prelaying parental quality (e.g., genetics, investment in the egg) and/or postlaying parental quality (e.g., incubation, postnatal feeding rate) on offspring growth, telomere length and survival. Parental quality was estimated through the joint effects of biological and foster parent telomere length on offspring traits, both soon after hatching (day 10) and at the end of the prewinter growth period (day 105). We expected that offspring traits would be mostly related to the telomere lengths (i.e., quality) of biological parents at day 10 and to the telomere lengths of foster parents at day 105. Results show that chick survival up to 10 days was negatively related to biological fathers’ telomere length, whereas survival up to 105 days was positively related to foster fathers’ telomere lengths. Chick growth was not related to either biological or foster parents’ telomere length. Chick telomere length was positively related to foster mothers’ telomere length at both 10 and 105 days. Overall, our study shows that, in a species with biparental care, parents’ telomere length is foremost a proxy of postlaying parental care quality, supporting the “telomere – parental quality hypothesis.”

中文翻译：

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福斯特而不是生物学的父母端粒长度可以预测帝王企鹅的后代存活率和端粒长度。

由于端粒的长度和动态与个体生长，生殖投资和生存有关，端粒已成为个体素质的可能标志。在这里，我们测试了一个假设，即在具有父母关怀的物种中，父母端粒长度可能是预测后代表型和存活率的父母素质的标志。在国王企鹅（Aptenodytes patagonicus），我们在产卵后实验性地交换了66个育种对中的单个卵，以消除产前父母的素质（例如遗传，对卵的投资）和/或产后父母的素质（例如孵化，产后喂养率）的影响。后代的生长，端粒的长度和存活率。在孵化后不久（第10天）和越冬期结束（第105天）时，通过生物学和培育亲本端粒长度对后代性状的共同影响来评估亲本质量。我们预期后代的性状在第10天时与亲生父母的端粒长度（即品质）和在第105天时与养父母的端粒长度有关。结果表明，长达10天的小鸡存活与生物学上的亲戚相关。父亲的端粒长度，而长达105天的生存与养父的端粒长度呈正相关。小鸡的生长与生物学的或养父母的端粒长度无关。在10天和105天时，小鸡的端粒长度与寄养母亲的端粒长度呈正相关。总体而言，我们的研究表明，在具有双亲照顾的物种中，父母的端粒长度是延迟父母照顾质量的主要代表，支持“端粒-父母素质假设”。