Table 1. Summary of the studies on telomere length inheritance patterns, telomere length heritability and link between parental age and telomere length.

Species	Father–offspring correlation	Mother–offspring correlation	Heritability	Outcome	Study
Telomere length inheritance pattern
Human (Homo sapiens)	Not measured	Not measured	h2=0.78	Telomere length is genetically determined	Slagboom et al. (1994)
Human (Homo sapiens)	Not measured	Not measured	Not measured	Telomere length is genetically determined	Graakjaer et al. (2004)
Human (Homo sapiens)	Yes	Yes	Not measured	Telomere length inheritance linked to X chromosome	Nawrot et al. (2004)
Human (Homo sapiens)	Yes	No	Not measured	Paternal telomere inheritance	Nordfjall et al. (2005)
Human (Homo sapiens)	Yes	Yes	h2=0.44	Paternal telomere inheritance	Njajou et al. (2007)
Human (Homo sapiens)	Yes	No	Not measured	Paternal telomere inheritance	Nordfjall et al. (2009)
Human (Homo sapiens)	Yes	Yes	h2=0.70	Paternal and maternal inheritance, effect of paternal age	Broer et al. (2013)
Human (Homo sapiens) and	Not measured	Not measured	Not measured	Telomere length is inherited	Chiang et al. (2010)
Mouse (Mus musculus)	Not measured	Not measured	Not measured
Kakapo (Strigops habroptila)	No	Yes	Not measured	Maternal inheritance of telomere length in a bird	Horn et al. (2011)
Telomere length heritability
Human (Homo sapiens)	Not measured	Not measured	h2=0.82		Jeanclos et al. (2000)
Human (Homo sapiens)	Not measured	Not measured	h2=0.34		Bischoff et al. (2005)
Human (Homo sapiens)	Not measured	Not measured	h2=0.82		Vasa-Nicotera et al. (2005)
Human (Homo sapiens)	Not measured	Not measured	h2=0.36		Andrew et al. (2006)
Human (Homo sapiens)	Not measured	Not measured	h2=064		Al-Attas et al. (2012)
Collared flycatcher (Ficedula albicollis)	Not measured	Not measured	h2=0.18	Weak but significant telomere length heritability	Voillemot et al. (2012)
Parental age linked to telomere length
Human (Homo sapiens)	Not measured	Not measured	Not measured	Offspring telomere length linked to paternal age	Unryn et al. (2005)
Human (Homo sapiens)	Not measured	Not measured	Not measured	Telomere length at birth linked to paternal age	De Meyer et al. (2007)
Human (Homo sapiens)	Not measured	Not measured	Not measured	Paternal age effects on offspring's telomere length	Kimura et al. (2008)
Human (Homo sapiens)	Not measured	Not measured	Not measured	Offspring telomere length linked to paternal age	Eisenberg et al. (2012)
Sand lizard (Lacerta agilis)	Not measured	Not measured	h2=0.52/h2=1.23	Paternal age correlated to offspring's telomere length	Olsson et al. (2011)