DOI: 10.5061/dryad.zpc866td1
title: Data from: Mitochondrial function is enhanced by thyroid hormones during zebra finch development

description: An organism’s response to its environment is largely determined by changes
 in the energy supplied by aerobic mitochondrial metabolism via
 adenosine-tri-phosphate (ATP) production. ATP is especially important
 under energy-demanding conditions, such as during rapid growth. It is
 currently poorly understood how environmental factors influence energy
 metabolism and mitochondrial functioning, but recent studies suggest a
 role of thyroid hormones (TH). TH are key regulators of growth and
 metabolism, and can be flexibly adjusted to environmental conditions, such
 as environmental temperature or food availability. To test whether TH
 enhancement is causally linked to mitochondrial function and growth, we
 provided TH orally at physiological concentrations during the main growth
 phase in zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) nestlings reared in a
 challenging environment. TH-treatment accelerated maximal mitochondrial
 working capacity – a trait that reflects mitochondrial ATP production,
 without affecting growth. To our knowledge, this is the first study to
 characterize the regulation of mitochondria by TH during development in a
 semi-naturalistic context and to address implications for fitness related
 traits, such as growth.
description: # Mitochondrial function is enhanced by thyroid hormones during zebra
 finch development - Dataset and RCode This data set contains
 morphological, hormonal (T3 plasma values) and mitochondrial respirometry
 data from zebra finch hatchlings. "TH-chicks" received a
 hormonal treatment with triiodothyronine (T3) during the main growth phase
 and "control" chicks the treatment vector to test the effect of
 T3 on mitochondrial function and growth. ## Description of the data and
 file structure File "Data" Column name Description Group
 Treatment group, "TH-chicks" received a thyroid hormone
 treatment, "Control" received the treatment vector TH-validation
 Individuals marked as "TH-validation" are only used to validate
 the treatment 1 hour after administratioin Sample ID Individual sample ID
 T3 Plasma levels T3 plasma levels in pmol ml1 Foster nest Number of nest
 of rearing Nest of origin Number of nest of birth Routine Cellular
 metabolic rate "CMR" in pmol s1 mg1 OxPhos Oxidative
 phosphorylation in pmol s1 mg1 Leak Leak respiration in pmol s1 mg1 ETS
 Maximal electron chain capacity in pmol s1 mg1 FCR1 Ratio between leak and
 CMR Sampling date Continuous numeration of the order of birth of
 individuals, using dummy variables that start with 1 as the first hatching
 date Tarsus D 5 Tarsus length at day 5 in mm Body Mass D 5 Body mass at
 day 5 in mg Tarsus D 14 Tarsus length at day 14 in mm Body Mass D 14 Body
 mass at day 14 in mg SMI D 14 Scaled mass index (Peig & Green 2009) at
 day 14 SMI D 5 Scaled mass index (Peig & Green 2009) at day 5 \#File
 "data_growth_rate" Column name Description Group Treatment
 group, "TH-chicks" received a thyroid hormone treatment,
 "Control" received the treatment vector TH-validation
 Individuals marked as "TH-validation" are only used to validate
 the treatment 1 hour after administratioin Sample ID Individual sample ID
 Foster nest Number of nest of rearing Nest of origin Number of nest of
 birth Age. Age in days post hatch Tarsus Tarsus length in mm Body Mass
 Body mass in mg SMI Scaled mass index (Peig & Green 2009) N/A =
 missing data ## Code/Software All statistical analysis was done in R,
 version 4.2.2. We used generalized linear models via the stan function
 from the package rstanarm and the package "ggplot" for
 visualization.