{"doi":"10.1101/2025.06.03.657357","title":"Non-invasive measures of DNA methylation capture molecular aging in wild capuchin monkeys","abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title>\n                <jats:p>Elucidating the socio-ecological factors that shape patterns of epigenetic modification in long-lived vertebrates is of broad interest to evolutionary biologists, geroscientists, and ecologists. However, aging research in wild populations is limited due to inability to measure cellular hallmarks of aging noninvasively. Here, we demonstrate that cellular DNA methylation (DNAm) profiles from fecal samples provide an accurate and reliable molecular clock in wild capuchin monkeys. Analysis of blood, feces, and urine samples from a closely related species shows that DNAm differentiates between species and different types of biological samples. We further find age-associated differences in DNAm relevant to cellular damage, inflammation, and senescence, consistent with hallmarks conserved across humans and other mammalian species, speaking to the comparative potential. By demonstrating that DNAm can be studied non-invasively in wild animals, our research opens new avenues in the study of modifiers of the pace of aging, and increases potential for cross-population and species comparisons.</jats:p>","journal":null,"year":null,"id":641243,"datarank":0.10397207708399181,"base_score":0.6931471805599453,"endowment":0.6931471805599453,"self_citation_contribution":0.10397207708399181,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.10397207708399181,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":1,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":null,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":false,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":null,"fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1667058,"name":"R Hernández-Rojas","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1667059,"name":"H Hamou","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1667060,"name":"R Lopez","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1667061,"name":"M Mah","orcid":null,"position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1667062,"name":"E Slikas","orcid":null,"position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1667063,"name":"SMV Simmons","orcid":null,"position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1667064,"name":"JD Orkin","orcid":null,"position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1667065,"name":"JP Higham","orcid":null,"position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1667066,"name":"SF Brosnan","orcid":null,"position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1667067,"name":"KM Jack","orcid":null,"position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1667068,"name":"FA Campos","orcid":null,"position":11,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":109246,"name":"Noah Snyder‐Mackler","orcid":"0000-0003-3026-6160","position":12,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1667069,"name":"AD Melin","orcid":null,"position":13,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1373172,"name":"Baptiste Sadoughi","orcid":"0000-0001-5626-3318","position":0,"is_corresponding":false}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":{"has_enrichment":true,"resolved":true,"title":"Non-invasive measures of DNA methylation capture molecular aging in wild capuchin monkeys","abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title>\n                <jats:p>Elucidating the socio-ecological factors that shape patterns of epigenetic modification in long-lived vertebrates is of broad interest to evolutionary biologists, geroscientists, and ecologists. However, aging research in wild populations is limited due to inability to measure cellular hallmarks of aging noninvasively. Here, we demonstrate that cellular DNA methylation (DNAm) profiles from fecal samples provide an accurate and reliable molecular clock in wild capuchin monkeys. Analysis of blood, feces, and urine samples from a closely related species shows that DNAm differentiates between species and different types of biological samples. We further find age-associated differences in DNAm relevant to cellular damage, inflammation, and senescence, consistent with hallmarks conserved across humans and other mammalian species, speaking to the comparative potential. By demonstrating that DNAm can be studied non-invasively in wild animals, our research opens new avenues in the study of modifiers of the pace of aging, and increases potential for cross-population and species comparisons.</jats:p>","is_dataset_classified":null,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"views":0,"has_version_chain":false,"is_dataset":false,"is_oa":false,"pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"openalex_id":null,"authors":[],"funders":[{"funder_name":"Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada","grant_id":"RGPIN-2023-04399","title":null},{"funder_name":"Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada","grant_id":"DGECR-2023-00272","title":null},{"funder_name":"Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada","grant_id":"RGPIN-2017-03782","title":null},{"funder_name":"Canada Research Chairs program","grant_id":"950-231257","title":null},{"funder_name":"National Institutes of Health Aging Research In Animals","grant_id":"R61-AG078529-01","title":null},{"funder_name":"National Science Foundation","grant_id":"NSF BCS 2127375","title":null},{"funder_name":"National Science Foundation","grant_id":"NSF SES 1919305","title":null}],"total_grants":7,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"citation_trend":[],"oa_status":"green","license":"cc-by-nc-nd","oa_locations":[{"url":"https://www.biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/early/2025/06/06/2025.06.03.657357.full.pdf","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://syndication.highwire.org/content/doi/10.1101/2025.06.03.657357","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/12157484","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13373498/","host_type":"repository"}],"fields_of_study":[],"mesh_terms":[],"keywords":[],"sdg_mappings":[],"linked_datasets":[],"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"database_accessions":[],"source":"live","citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-08-07T16:50:55.052291Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}