TemperateReefBase Geonetwork Catalogue
Epigenetic estimation of age in humpback whales - data held at Dryad
This is a local copy of a metadata record and dataset stored at Dryad. This local copy is maintained in order to provide a link to the originating Australian Antarctic program project. See the link to the Dryad site at the provided URL for full details on this data set.
Age is a fundamental aspect of animal ecology, but is difficult to determine in many species. Humpback whales exemplify this as they have a lifespan comparable to humans, mature sexually as early as four years and have no reliable visual age indicators after their first year. Current methods for estimating humpback age cannot be applied to all individuals and populations. Assays for human age have recently been developed recently based on age-induced changes in DNA methylation of specific genes. We used information on age-associated DNA methylation in human and mouse genes to identify homologous gene regions in humpbacks. Humpback skin samples were obtained from individuals with a known year of birth and employed to calibrate relationships between cytosine methylation and age. Seven of 37 cytosines assayed for methylation level in humpback skin had significant age-related profiles. The three most age-informative cytosine markers were selected for a humpback epigenetic age assay. The assay has an R2 of 0.787 (p = 3.04e-16) and predicts age from skin samples with a standard deviation of 2.991 years. The epigenetic method correctly determined which of parent-offspring pairs is the parent in more than 93% of cases. To demonstrate the potential of this technique, we constructed the first modern age profile of humpback whales off eastern Australia and compared the results to population structure five decades earlier. This is the first epigenetic age estimation method for a wild animal species and the approach we took for developing it can be applied to many other non model organisms.
Simple
Identification info
- Alternate title
- Epigenetic estimation of age in humpback whales
- Date (Publication)
- 2014-03-14
- Edition
- 1
- Citation identifier
-
Dataset DOI
- Title
- Information and documentation - Digital object identifier system
- Date (Publication)
- 2012-04-23
- Citation identifier
- ISO 26324:2012
- Citation identifier
- doi:10.5061/dryad.h4b48
Originator
Publisher
Principal investigator
Collaborator
- Status
- Completed
Custodian
- Topic category
-
- Biota
- Oceans
Extent
))
))
Extent
- Description
- Temporal Coverage
Temporal extent
- TimePeriod
- 2012-07-01 2013-12-31
- NASA/GCMD Earth Science Keywords
-
- EARTH SCIENCE > BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION > ANIMALS/VERTEBRATES > MAMMALS > CETACEANS > BALEEN WHALES
- EARTH SCIENCE > BIOSPHERE > ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS > SPECIES/POPULATION INTERACTIONS > SPECIES LIFE HISTORY
- Keywords
-
- Humpback whales
- Ageing
- Epigenetics
- NASA/GCMD Earth Science Keywords
-
- SHIPS
- NASA/GCMD Earth Science Keywords
-
- AMD
- AMD/AU
- CEOS
- NASA/GCMD Earth Science Keywords
-
- CONTINENT > ANTARCTICA
- GEOGRAPHIC REGION > POLAR
- OCEAN > SOUTHERN OCEAN
- CONTINENT > AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND > AUSTRALIA
Resource constraints
- Use limitation
- This metadata record is publicly available.
Resource constraints
- Access constraints
- licence
- Other constraints
- These data are available at the Dryad website. See the provided URL.
Resource constraints
- File type
- Portable Network Graphic
- Title
- Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
- Website
-
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode
Legal code for Creative Commons by Attribution 4.0 International license
- Use constraints
- licence
- Other constraints
- This dataset conforms to the CCBY Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). When using this data, please cite the original publication: Polanowski AM, Robbins J, Chandler D, Jarman SN (2014) Epigenetic estimation of age in humpback whales. Molecular Ecology Resources 14(5): 976-987. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1755-0998.12247 Additionally, please cite the Dryad data package: Polanowski AM, Robbins J, Chandler D, Jarman SN (2014) Data from: Epigenetic estimation of age in humpback whales. Dryad Digital Repository. http://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.h4b48
- Language
- English
- Character encoding
- UTF8
Distribution Information
Distributor
Distributor
Distributor
- Fees
- Free
- Planned available datetime
- 2014-03-14T00:00:00
- Units of distribution
- kb
- Transfer size
- 48
- OnLine resource
-
GET DATA
Access the data at Dryad
Resource lineage
- Statement
- Values provided in temporal coverage and spatial coverage are estimates only.
- Hierarchy level
- Dataset
- Maintenance and update frequency
- As needed
- Maintenance note
- 2015-09-03 - record created by Dave Connell from a metadata record at Dryad which describes Simon Jarman's data (in order to have a local pointer attached to the project). 2022-04-27 - record updated by Dave Connell for ISO compliance.
Metadata
- Metadata identifier
- string/AAS_4014_whale_age
- Language
- English
- Character encoding
- UTF8
Sponsor
Owner
Type of resource
- Resource scope
- Dataset
Alternative metadata reference
- Title
- gov.nasa.gsfc.gcmd
- Citation identifier
- d8b68225-e7d0-47ca-aaff-504c7b94a1dd
Alternative metadata reference
- Title
- gov.nasa.gsfc.gcmd
- Date (Last Revision)
- 2022-04-27T03:59:13
Identifier
- Description
- metadata.extraction_date
Alternative metadata reference
- Title
- gov.nasa.gsfc.gcmd
- Citation identifier
- 8.6
- Metadata linkage
-
http://data.aad.gov.au/metadata/records/AAS_4014_whale_age
Point of truth for the metadata record
- Date info (Creation)
- 2015-09-03T00:00:00
- Date info (Last Update)
- 2022-04-27
Metadata standard
- Title
- ISO 19115-3
- Edition
- 2014
- Other citation details
- Version 1
- Title
- DIF to ISO 19115-1 Profile
Overviews
Spatial extent
Provided by
