Evolution of Senescence and Specific Longevity

Edney, E. B.; Gill, Robert W.

doi:10.1038/220281a0

Cited by 163 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…In the absence of pleiotropy, patterns of senescence and mortality may also be affected by mutation accumulation, the rise to high frequency of deleterious mutants acting late in life (19,20). We examined the consequences of this process on patterns of mortality by assuming the existence of multiple, unlinked loci.…”

Section: Fig 2 Effect Ofmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolutionary theory predicts late-life mortality plateaus

Mueller

Rose

1996

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

171

134

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Most demographic data indicate a roughly exponential increase in adult mortality with age, a phenomenon that has been explained in terms of a decline in the force of natural selection acting on age-specific mortality. Scattered demographic findings suggest the existence of a late-life mortality plateau in both humans and dipteran insects, seemingly at odds with both prior data and evolutionary theory. Extensions to the evolutionary theory of aging are developed which indicate that such late-life mortality plateaus are to be expected when enough late-life data are collected. This expanded theory predicts late-life mortality plateaus, with both antagonistic pleiotropy and mutation accumulation as driving population genetic mechanisms.

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Section: Fig 2 Effect Ofmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolutionary theory predicts late-life mortality plateaus

Mueller

Rose

1996

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

171

134

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“…A prediction of the evolutionary theory of aging is that organisms in environments producing a low rate of extrinsic mortality will age more slowly than those in environments that generate a high rate of extrinsic mortality (Medawar, 1952;Williams, 1957;Edney & Gill, 1968). This has been tested, and largely supported, by comparative studies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Extraordinary plasticity in aging in Strongyloides ratti implies a gene‐regulatory mechanism of lifespan evolution

Gardner¹,

Viney²

2006

Aging Cell

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SummaryAging evolves as the result of weakened selection against late-acting deleterious alleles due, for example, to extrinsic mortality. Comparative studies of aging support this evolutionary theory, but details of the genetic mechanisms by which lifespan evolves remain unclear. We have studied aging in an unusual nematode, Strongyloides ratti , to gain insight into the nature of these mechanisms, in this first detailed examination of aging in a parasitic nematode. S. ratti has distinct parasitic and free-living adults, living in the rat small intestine and the soil, respectively. We have observed reproductive and demographic aging in parasitic adults, with a maximum lifespan of 403 days. By contrast the maximum lifespan of free-living adults is only 5 days. Thus, the two adults of S. ratti have evolved strikingly different rates of aging. Parasitic nematode species are frequently longer-lived than free-living species, presumably reflecting different extrinsic mortality rates in their respective niches. Parasitic and free-living female S. ratti are morphologically different, yet genetically identical. Thus, the 80-fold difference in their lifespans, the greatest plasticity in aging yet reported, must largely reflect evolved differences in gene expression. This suggests that interspecific differences in lifespan may evolve via similar mechanisms.

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“…Natural systems may be more complicated due to indirect and changing selection pressures (Abrams 1991(Abrams , 1993, but, in general, we expect higher extrinsic mortality to select for greater senescence (Williams 1957;Hamilton 1966;Edney and Gill 1968;Charlesworth 1980Charlesworth , 1993. However, if the mortality falls predominantly on juveniles, reduced senescence is expected because adults are evolutionarily more valuable (Hamilton 1966;Charlesworth 1980;Abrams 1993).…”

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confidence: 99%

NATURAL GENETIC VARIATION OF LIFE SPAN, REPRODUCTION, AND JUVENILE GROWTH IN DAPHNIA

Dudycha

Tessier

1999

Evolution

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Abstract.-The evolutionary theory of senescence predicts that high extrinsic mortality in natural populations should select for accelerated reproductive investment and shortened life span. Here, we test the theory with natural populations of the Daphnia pulex-pulicaria species complex, a group of freshwater zooplankton that spans an environmental gradient of habitat permanence. We document substantial genetic variation in demographic life-history traits among parent and hybrid populations of this complex. Populations from temporary ponds have shorter life spans, earlier and faster increases of intrinsic mortality risk, and earlier and steeper declines in fecundity than populations from permanent lakes. We also examine the age-specific contribution to fitness, measured by reproductive value, and to expected lifetime reproduction; these traits decline faster in populations from temporary ponds. Despite having more rapid senescence, pond Daphnia exhibit faster juvenile growth and higher early fitness, measured as population growth rate (r). Among populations within this species complex we observed negative genetic correlations between r and indices of life-history timing, suggesting trade-offs between early-and late-life performance. Our results cannot be explained by a trade-off between survival and fecundity or by nonevolutionary theories of senescence. Instead, our data are consistent with the evolutionary theory of senescence because the genetic variation in life histories we observed is roughly congruent with the temporal scale of environmental change in the field.

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Evolution of Senescence and Specific Longevity

Cited by 163 publications

References 2 publications

Evolutionary theory predicts late-life mortality plateaus

Evolutionary theory predicts late-life mortality plateaus

Extraordinary plasticity in aging in Strongyloides ratti implies a gene‐regulatory mechanism of lifespan evolution

NATURAL GENETIC VARIATION OF LIFE SPAN, REPRODUCTION, AND JUVENILE GROWTH IN DAPHNIA

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