AN EPIGENTIC CLOCK FOR THE GALLIFORMES FAMILY

The present invention relates to an in vitro method for predicting the biological age of a subject, the method comprising the steps of: (a) bisulfite treatment of genomic DNA extracted from a biological sample obtained from the subject; (b) amplifying the bisulfite treated genomic DNA from step (a) with specific primers that target at least two Low Methylated Region (LMR) in the genomic DNA from (a) to obtain at least one PCR product; (c) measuring the methylation level of CpG sites in the PCR product of step (b); (d) determining the biological age of the subject with a statistical prediction algorithm, wherein the statistical prediction algorithm is applied to the measured methylation level to determine the epigenetic age of the subject wherein the subject is from the