Peer-reviewedCC BYScience Advances
Epigenetic insights into extreme longevity in the world’s oldest terrestrial animal, Jonathan
20 affiliations
- 1Kallel Foundation, Nashville, TN, USA.
- 2Igenbio, Inc., Chicago, IL, USA.
- 3VANTAGE, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA.
- 4Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.
- 5Oregon Institute of Occupational Health Sciences, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR, USA.
- 6Agriculture and Natural Resources Division, St. Helena Government, Jamestown, St. Helena.
- 7Florida Iguana & Tortoise Breeders, Southwest Ranches, FL, USA.
- 8Department of Bioinformatics & Computational Biology, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
- 9Systems Biology Department, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
- 10Peterhouse, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
- 11New Mexico Consortium, Los Alamos, NM, USA.
- 12Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, USA.
- 13NNF Center for Protein Research, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
- 14SeaWorld of Texas, San Antonio, TX, USA.
- 15United Parks and Resorts, Orlando, FL, USA.
- 16The University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
- 17Department of Animal Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
- 18Tennessee Oncology, Nashville, TN, USA.
- 19Epiphany Biosciences, San Francisco, CA, USA.
- 20Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville, TN, USA.
Abstract
Aldabra giant tortoises (Aldabrachelys gigantea) are exceptionally long-lived. We sequenced the genome and methylome of Jonathan, a 194-year-old Aldabra, to explore the molecular basis of his longevity. Relative to other giant tortoises (A. gigantea and Chelonoidis abingdonii), Jonathan has unique gene variants in most aging pathways. Moreover, Jonathan has substantial DNA methylation and methylation entropy changes compared to four other Aldabras ranging in age from a 5-year-old juvenile to older adults. Notably, we found that lower-entropy regions in Jonathan's methylome were enriched for the promoters of genes involved in the mitochondrial electron transport chain, and RNA metabolism. This suggests that high-fidelity transcription of the genes in these pathways may be crucial for long-lived species. Our findings support a model for aging wherein the maintenance of low methylation entropy in gene promoters is coupled to efficient mitochondrial energy production, efficient RNA processing, and efficient genomic repair.
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BibTeX
@article{vaisvil2026epigenetic,
title = {{Epigenetic insights into extreme longevity in the world’s oldest terrestrial animal, Jonathan}},
author = {Benjamin Vaisvil and Daniel P. Schmitt and Angela Jones and Vinayak Kapatral and James M. Ford and Madison L. Taylor and Mathia Colwell and Jonathan Hollins and Sam Pascucci and Konstantin Weissenow and Burkhard Rost and Pascal Notin and Justin Gerlach and Thomas C. Terwilliger and Li-Wei Hung and Lars Juhl Jensen and Kathlyn Reed and Todd R. Robeck and Steve Horvath and Christopher Faulk and Yanjun Ma and Stephen W. Clark},
journal = {Science Advances},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1126/sciadv.adw8887},
url = {https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adw8887},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Epigenetic insights into extreme longevity in the world’s oldest terrestrial animal, Jonathan
AU - Benjamin Vaisvil
AU - Daniel P. Schmitt
AU - Angela Jones
AU - Vinayak Kapatral
AU - James M. Ford
AU - Madison L. Taylor
AU - Mathia Colwell
AU - Jonathan Hollins
AU - Sam Pascucci
AU - Konstantin Weissenow
AU - Burkhard Rost
AU - Pascal Notin
AU - Justin Gerlach
AU - Thomas C. Terwilliger
AU - Li-Wei Hung
AU - Lars Juhl Jensen
AU - Kathlyn Reed
AU - Todd R. Robeck
AU - Steve Horvath
AU - Christopher Faulk
AU - Yanjun Ma
AU - Stephen W. Clark
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/07
JO - Science Advances
DO - 10.1126/sciadv.adw8887
UR - https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adw8887
AB - Aldabra giant tortoises (Aldabrachelys gigantea) are exceptionally long-lived. We sequenced the genome and methylome of Jonathan, a 194-year-old Aldabra, to explore the molecular basis of his longevity. Relative to other giant tortoises (A. gigantea and Chelonoidis abingdonii), Jonathan has unique gene variants in most aging pathways. Moreover, Jonathan has substantial DNA methylation and methylation entropy changes compared to four other Aldabras ranging in age from a 5-year-old juvenile to older adults. Notably, we found that lower-entropy regions in Jonathan's methylome were enriched for the promoters of genes involved in the mitochondrial electron transport chain, and RNA metabolism. This suggests that high-fidelity transcription of the genes in these pathways may be crucial for long-lived species. Our findings support a model for aging wherein the maintenance of low methylation entropy in gene promoters is coupled to efficient mitochondrial energy production, efficient RNA processing, and efficient genomic repair.
SN - 2375-2548
ER -