Fitness benefits of prolonged post-reproductive lifespan in women

Lahdenperä, Mirkka; Lummaa, Virpi; Helle, Samuli; Tremblay, Marc Adélard; Russell, Andrew F.

doi:10.1038/nature02367

Cited by 517 publications

(442 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Indeed, there is now extensive evidence that women continue making important contributions to the fitness of their direct and indirect descendants long after their direct reproduction has ceased (e.g. [95]). Hence, diseases such as breast cancer that typically occur after age of last reproduction nevertheless can still impose severe selective consequences via effects on parental care and inclusive fitness.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The androgen receptor and prostate cancer: A role for sexual selection and sexual conflict?

Summers

Crespi

2008

Medical Hypotheses

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Summary We propose and evaluate the hypothesis that the CAG repeat region of the androgen receptor represents a locus of antagonistic pleiotropy in the context of sexual selection and sexual conflict. Short repeats are associated with increased transactivation of the androgen receptor at the molecular level, and increased fertility at the phenotypic level. However, short repeats are also associated with increased risk of prostate cancer, and with more aggressive forms of the disease. The somatic evolution of cancer cell lineages also shows a repeated pattern of shortening of the CAG repeat in association with cancer progression, apparently as a result of positive selection among cell lineages. We further postulate that other genes associated with prostate cancer are likely to mediate antagonistic pleiotropy in the context of sexual selection and sexual conflict. A key prediction of this hypothesis is that the genes mediating antagonistic pleiotropy will show historical evidence of positive selection, particularly in the context of sexual conflict. Previous research on the molecular evolution of specific genes associated with prostate cancer supports this prediction, and we suggest further critical tests of the role for genomic conflicts and tradeoffs in the evolution of cancer risk.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The androgen receptor and prostate cancer: A role for sexual selection and sexual conflict?

Summers

Crespi

2008

Medical Hypotheses

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“…Caspari and Lee [73] provide paleontological data for a rapid increase in human lifespan in the early upper Paleolithic, which they attribute to the evolution of kin-selected benefits from grandmothering. This hypothesis has received strong support from recent research showing that the local presence of grandmothers leads to increased fitness of descendant kin [74]. Such selection for lifespan extension is expected to increase the selective impact of cancer, because the development of most cancers is tightly linked to age [39].…”

Section: Macroevolutionary Effects Of Cancer Risk and Anticancer Adapmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolutionary biology of cancer

Crespi¹,

Summers²

2005

Trends in Ecology & Evolution

232

176

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“…Nowadays in industrialized societies grandparents are not needed to contribute on a child survival as before (see, e.g. Lahdenperä et al 2004) but at the same time the grandparents themselves are in better health and in better economical situation than never before. In addition, the geographical mobility of people and the growing number of divorces separates grandparents and grandchildren both physically and mentally.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adolescent grandchildren’s perceptions of grandparents’ involvement in UK: an interpretation from life course and evolutionary theory perspective

Danielsbacka

Tanskanen

2012

Eur J Ageing

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In this article, we study grandparental involvement from the viewpoint of evolutionary theory and sociological life course perception. We have used 'the Involved Grandparenting and Child Well-Being 2007' survey, which is the first nationally representative sample of British and Welsh adolescents aged 11-16 (n = 1,488). First, we explore with the descriptive statistics the amount of grandparental involvement reported by adolescents. The result follows the predicted pattern: maternal grandparent is reported to involve in a grandchild's life the most, second maternal grandfather, third paternal grandmother and the last paternal grandfather. Second, we focus more closely on separate grandparents and show with four linear regression models which factors are connected to each grandparent's involvement. Grandchild's age, grandparent's health, grandparent's labour force participation and distance between a grandparent and a grandchild were factors that have similar effects in relation to all grandparents. Marital status mattered only for grandfathers, whereas family structure of a grandchild has opposite effects in relation to maternal and paternal grandparents. Grandchild's sex, grandparent's age, the number of grandchildren and the number of living grandparents all mattered, but only with respect to some grandparents. The study shows that it is advantageous to merge sociological and evolutionary viewpoints when studying a grandparental involvement in a modern society.

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Fitness benefits of prolonged post-reproductive lifespan in women

Cited by 517 publications

References 24 publications

The androgen receptor and prostate cancer: A role for sexual selection and sexual conflict?

The androgen receptor and prostate cancer: A role for sexual selection and sexual conflict?

Evolutionary biology of cancer

Adolescent grandchildren’s perceptions of grandparents’ involvement in UK: an interpretation from life course and evolutionary theory perspective

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