Publications by authors named "N Snyder-Mackler"
The effect of the social environment on the proinflammatory immune response may mediate the relationship between social environment and fitness but remains understudied outside captive animals and human populations. Age can also influence both immune function and social behaviour, and hence may modulate their relationships. This study investigates the role of social interactions in driving the concentrations of two urinary markers of proinflammatory immune activation, neopterin and soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR), in a free-ranging population of rhesus macaques, .
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAcross mammals, fertility and offspring survival are often lowest at the beginning and end of females' reproductive careers. However, extrinsic drivers of reproductive success-including infanticide by males-could stochastically obscure these expected age-related trends. Here, we modelled reproductive ageing trajectories in two cercopithecine primates that experience high rates of male infanticide: the chacma baboon () and the gelada ().
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiological relatedness is a key consideration in studies of behavior, population structure, and trait evolution. Except for parent-offspring dyads, pedigrees capture relatedness imperfectly. The number and length of identical-by-descent DNA segments (IBD) yield the most precise relatedness estimates.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- The study investigates how genetic variations that influence gene regulation, specifically through DNA methylation, contribute to differences in traits among rhesus macaques on Cayo Santiago Island, Puerto Rico.
- Researchers utilized bisulfite sequencing to assess DNA methylation at over 555,000 CpG sites across 573 macaque blood samples, discovering significant genetic effects on methylation levels from single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs).
- Findings revealed that 69.12% of the investigated CpGs had a genetic influence on their methylation (meQTL), which were predominantly located in regions associated with gene expression, highlighting genetic factors that drive phenotypic diversity in these primates.
Article Synopsis
- * Researchers created an "epigenetic clock" using DNA methylation from over 3 million sites in 864 dogs, revealing that larger breeds have an epigenomic aging rate 0.37 years faster each year compared to smaller breeds.
- * Higher residual epigenetic age in dogs is linked to a 34% increase in mortality risk per year, which indicates that DNA methylation can serve as a useful biomarker for aging and health interventions in dogs.