Association among epigenetic modifications by DNA methylation, telomere length, and physical fitness in biological aging

Abstract Cellular senescence is greatly accelerated by telomere shortening, and the steps forward in human aging is strongly influenced by environmental and life-style factors, whether DNA methylation (DNAm) is affected by exercise training, remains unclear. In the present study we investigated the relationships between physiological functions, maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max), vertical jump, working memory, telomere length (TL) assessed by RT-PCR, DNAmethylation based estimation of TL (DNAmTL) and DNA methylation based biomarkers of aging of master rowers (N = 151) and sedentary subjects (N = 90), aged between 37–85 years. It was found that the TL inversely correlated with chronological age, while no gender dependent difference was found. We could not detect association between telomere length and VO2max, vertical jump and working memory by RT-PCR method, while these physiological test results showed correlation with DNAmTL. DNAmGrimAge and DNAmPhenoAge acceleration were inversely associated with telomere length assessed by both methods. It appears that there is no powerful beneficial effects of exercise or physiological fitness on telomere shortening, however the degree of DNA methylation is associated with telomere length. DNAm based estimation of TL shows stronger relationships with physiological functions than RT-PCR measured data.