Telomeres are used increasingly in ecology and evolution as biomarkers for ageing and environmental stress, and are typically measured from DNA extracted from nonlethally sampled blood. However, obtaining blood is not always possible in field conditions and only limited amounts can be taken from small mammals, such as bats, which moreover lack nucleated red blood cells and hence yield relatively low amounts of DNA. As telomere length can vary within species according to age and tissue, it is important to determine which tissues serve best as a representation of the organism as a whole. Here, we investigated whether wing tissue biopsies, a rapid and relatively noninvasive tissue collection method, could serve as a proxy for other tissues when measuring relative telomere length (rTL) in the Egyptian fruit bat (Rousettus aegyptiacus). Telomeres were measured from blood, brain, heart, kidney, liver lung, muscle and wing, and multiple wing biopsies were taken from the same individuals to determine intra‐individual repeatability of rTL measured by using qPCR. Wing rTL correlated with rTL estimates from most tissues apart from blood. Blood rTL was not significantly correlated with rTL from any other tissue. Blood and muscle rTLs were significantly longer compared with other tissues, while lung displayed the shortest rTLs. Individual repeatability of rTL measures from wing tissue was high (>70%). Here we show the relationships between tissue telomere dynamics for the first time in a bat, and our results provide support for the use of wing tissue for rTL measurements.

中文翻译：

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Wing：一种合适的非致命组织类型，可用于蝙蝠的可重复和快速端粒长度估计

端粒在生态学和进化中越来越多地用作衰老和环境压力的生物标志物，并且通常从非致死性采样的血液中提取的 DNA 进行测量。然而，在野外条件下并不总是能够获得血液，并且只能从蝙蝠等小型哺乳动物身上采集有限的血液，而且它们缺乏有核的红细胞，因此产生的 DNA 量相对较低。由于端粒长度可以根据年龄和组织在物种内变化，因此确定哪种组织最适合作为整个生物体的代表是很重要的。在这里，我们研究了翅膀组织活检，一种快速且相对无创的组织采集方法，在测量埃及果蝠的相对端粒长度 (rTL) 时，是否可以作为其他组织的替代物。Rousettus aegyptiacus )。从血液、大脑、心脏、肾脏、肝肺、肌肉和翅膀中测量端粒，并从同一个体中采集多个翅膀活检，以确定使用 qPCR 测量的 rTL 的个体内重复性。Wing rTL 与除血液外的大多数组织的 rTL 估计值相关。血液 rTL 与来自任何其他组织的 rTL 没有显着相关性。与其他组织相比，血液和肌肉的 rTL 明显更长，而肺的 rTL 最短。来自翅膀组织的 rTL 测量的个体可重复性很高 (>70%)。在这里，我们首次展示了蝙蝠中组织端粒动力学之间的关系，我们的结果为使用翅膀组织进行 rTL 测量提供了支持。