The authors wish to note an error in the article entitled “Epigenetics and island-mainland divergence in an insectivorous small mammal” published in Molecular Ecology (2023), 32(1), 152–166, https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.16735.
Upon evaluation of the mitochondrial cytochrome B sequence data and phenotypic measurements, we discovered that six individuals in our dataset were Sorex fumeus and not S. cinereus. This included the sample used for the reference assembly and those in the mainland comparison, reducing the number of mainland individuals to n = 6. This resulted in a total of 39 instead of 47 tissue samples used for the epigenetic clock, and 36 instead of 44 tissue samples used for the EWAS analyses. The reference assembly was only used to identify Sorex aligned probes from the mammal array and is common practice (e.g. Larison et al., 2021; Mayne et al., 2022)—this does not effect the analysis. The misidentified samples were removed from the dataset and all analyses were re-run. All the patterns from the original published paper remained unchanged. Updated tables and figures showing side-by-side comparisons are shown below. The supplemental figures and tables were also updated. We have corrected the sample record on NCBI (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/JAOANZ000000000.1/). The updated manuscript is included as supporting information for easy reference.
Table1 (original version):
TABLE 1. Trapping location of samples, N = total number of samples, number of females, minimum and maximum age. Age is represented as the estimated age in months divided by 12. Note, age of 0.00 represents fetus.
Location
Island
N
No. of females
Age (min/max)
Bon Portage Island, NS
Yes
16
6
0.167/1.33
Long Island, NS
Yes
9
4
0.00/1.25
Sandy Cove, NS
No
4
3
0.250/0.375
North Mountain, NS
No
2
1
0.417/0.417
Peterborough County, ON
No
6
1
0.167/1.08
Table1 (corrected version):
TABLE 1. Trapping location of samples, N = total number of samples, number of females, minimum and maximum age. Age is represented as the estimated age in months divided by 12. Note, age of 0.00 represents fetus. *S. fumeus samples removed.
Location
Island
N
No. of females
Age (min/max)
Bon Portage Island, NS
Yes
16
6
0.167/1.33
Long Island, NS
Yes
9
4
0.00/1.25
Sandy Cove, NS
No
4
3
0.250/0.375
North Mountain, NS
No
2
1
0.417/0.417
Table2 (original version):
TABLE 2. Summary statistics for the linear regression models for weight, body length and skull length of mainland versus island masked shrews. Sex values are relative to females and location relative to mainland populations. The β-coefficient (estimate), 95% confidence interval (CI), p value and adjusted R2 are provided.
Estimate
95% CI
P value
Adj. R2
Model 1: Weight ~ Age + Sex + Location
Age
1.15
0.21 to 2.08
0.018
0.53
Sex
0.01
–0.61 to 0.64
0.962
Location
–2.09
–2.79 to –1.39
<0.001
Model 2: Body length ~ Age + Sex + Location
Age
8.43
3.36 to 13.50
0.002
0.49
Sex
–0.20
–3.61 to 3.20
0.903
Location
–10.35
–14.15 to –6.54
<0.001
Model 3: Skull length ~ Age + Sex + Location
Age
–0.31
–0.93 to 0.32
0.321
0.79
Sex
–0.21
–0.63 to 0.21
0.319
Location
–1.92
–2.39 to –1.45
<0.001
Table2 (corrected version):
TABLE 2. Summary statistics for the linear regression models for weight, body length and skull length of mainland versus island masked shrews. Sex values are relative to females and location relative to mainland populations. The β-coefficient (estimate), 95% confidence interval (CI), p value and adjusted R2 are provided. *S. fumeus samples removed.
Estimate
95% CI
P value
Adj. R2
Model 1: Weight ~ Age + Sex + Location
Age
0.96
–0.03 to 1.95
0.056
0.27
Sex
–0.21
–0.89 to 0.47
0.535
Location
–1.42
–2.26 to –0.57
0.002
Model 2: Body length ~ Age + Sex + Location
Age
6.95
1.27 to 12.63
0.019
0.33
Sex
–0.30
–4.22 to 3.63
0.877
Location
–8.80
–13.64 to –3.96
0.001
Model 3: Skull length ~ Age + Sex + Location
Age
–0.38
–1.11 to 0.36
0.298
0.70
Sex
–0.35
–0.86 to 0.16
0.170
Location
–1.64
–2.27 to –1.01
<0.001
Table3 (original version):
TABLE 3. Top 5 genes near outlier CpGs for island versus mainland EWAS and BPI versus all other populations. Functions of each gene are abbreviated from Uniprot.
Gene name
CpG
Direction
Location (p)
Putative function
Island-mainland
EWS exon
cg11703808
pos
3.35e-21
Transcriptional repressor and might play a role in the tumorigenic process.
PO4F3 intron
cg00152260
pos
1.23e-19
Transcriptional activator. Involved in the auditory system development.
UBP54 intron
cg22063749
neg
3.27e-19
Has no peptidase activity.
TRI47 exon
cg25115601
neg
3.12e-16
Mediates the ubiquitination and proteasomal degradation of CYLD.
ATPA exon
cg24102071
neg
6.37e-16
Produces ATP from ADP.
BPI
SMO exon
cg20625795
neg
1.03e-30
Associates with the patched protein (PTCH) to transduce the hedgehog's proteins signal.
ZO1 exon
cg03673751
neg
2.00e-21
Related to movement of substances through the paracellular space. Plays a role in the regulation of cell migration.
PRP8 promoter
cg25476805
neg
7.60e-19
Plays role in pre-mRNA splicing.
CBX5 intergenic
cg23036219
neg
1.12e-18
Associated with epigenetic repression. Involved in the formation of functional kinetochore.
ZBT20 intergenic
cg00903722
neg
3.32e-17
Transcription factor that may be involved in hematopoiesis, oncogenesis, and immune responses. Plays a role in postnatal myogenesis.
Table3 (corrected version):
TABLE 3. Top 5 genes near outlier CpGs for island versus mainland EWAS and BPI versus all other populations. Functions of each gene are abbreviated from Uniprot. *S. fumeus samples removed.
Gene name
CpG
Direction
Location (p)
Putative function
Island-mainland
EWS exon
cg11703808
pos
5.76e-18
Transcriptional repressor and might play a role in the tumorigenic process.
PO4F3 intron
cg00152260
pos
7.32e-14
Transcriptional activator. Involved in the auditory system development.
UBP54 intron
cg22063749
neg
1.71e-13
Has no peptidase activity.
MYH6 exon
cg11736686
pos
5.48e-12
Actin-based motor molecules with ATPase activity.
TRI47 exon
cg25115601
neg
2.07e-11
Mediates the ubiquitination and proteasomal degradation of CYLD.
BPI
SMO exon
cg20625795
neg
1.06e-24
Associates with the patched protein (PTCH) to transduce the hedgehog's proteins signal.
ZO1 exon
cg03673751
neg
6.04e-16
Related to movement of substances through the paracellular space. Plays a role in the regulation of cell migration.
PRP8 promoter
cg25476805
neg
2.57e-14
Plays role in pre-mRNA splicing.
CBX5 intergenic
cg23036219
neg
1.10e-13
Associated with epigenetic repression. Involved in the formation of functional kinetochore.
ZBT20 intergenic
cg00903722
neg
5.24e-13
Transcription factor that may be involved in hematopoiesis, oncogenesis, and immune responses. Plays a role in postnatal myogenesis.
Figure1 (original version):
Figure1 (corrected version):
Figure2 (original version):
Figure2 (corrected version):
Figure3 (original version):
Figure3 (corrected version):
Figure4 (original version):
Figure4 (corrected version):
We apologize for any inconvenience this error may have caused readers.