Interbirth intervals: Intrafamilial, intragenomic and intrasomatic conflict

Haig, David

doi:10.1093/emph/eou002

Cited by 28 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…The phenotype of infants with PWS fits evolutionary models in which PEGs have been selected to enhance suckling and night waking because of a benefit to infant fitness at a cost to maternal fitness [5,6,7,8]. While our paper has focused on feeding behaviors, the phenotype of older children with PWS promises to provide similar insight into kin-mediated tradeoffs in the evolution of other distinctive aspects of human childhood.…”

Section: Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 71%

“…Haig and Wharton suggested that PEGs from the PWS region had evolved to promote suckling during early infancy and to resist introduction of alternative foods at the time of weaning [5]. The major benefit for infants was conjectured to have been longer delays until births of younger sibs caused by prolongation of their mothers' lactational amenorrhea [8]. Conception is followed by birth nine months later.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the same year, genomic imprinting was proposed to have evolved in response to intragenomic conflict between genes of maternal and paternal origin [3]. Since then the role of imprinted genes in the etiology of PWS and AS has been confirmed [4] and the phenotypes of these genetically-paired syndromes have been interpreted as providing clues about the role of kin interactions in the evolution of distinctive features of human childhood [5,6,7,8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous attempts to interpret changing appetite in PWS from an evolutionary perspective have been based on this two-phase model. The early "anorexic" phase was readily explicable in terms of maternal-paternal conflict over infant care [5,8]. Paternally-expressed genes (PEGs) from the PWS/AS chromosomal region were proposed to have evolved to increase nutritional demands on mothers by promoting more intense suckling and frequent waking.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Nutritional Phases in Prader-Willi Syndrome: Evolutionary and Clinical Interpretations

Kotler¹,

Balko²,

Berall³

et al. 2016

J Evol Med

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Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is caused by a lack of expression of paternally-expressed imprinted genes at human chromosome 15q11-13 and is characterized by a switch from infant anorexia to childhood hyperphagia. A recent multiphase staging system recognizes gradual changes between the anorexic and hyperphagic phases of PWS. We undertook to use clinical records from an independent population to assess the multiphase system and explore the implications for the evolution of distinctive features of human childhood. Medical records of 258 clinic visits by 55 patients with PWS were reviewed with a focus on appetite and feeding. These clinical records were found to be inadequate for placing patients into particular phases of the multiphase system. Under the multiphase system, the onset of hyperphagia in PWS appears to coincide more with the timing of adrenarche than weaning from the breast and this timing should frame future evolutionary hypotheses. We discuss challenges encountered while attempting to use clinical data to explore evolutionary questions, but also identify useful information contained in the records.

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Section: Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 71%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Nutritional Phases in Prader-Willi Syndrome: Evolutionary and Clinical Interpretations

Kotler¹,

Balko²,

Berall³

et al. 2016

J Evol Med

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“…If a woman acquires a new mate he will have no genetic interest in her previous children, a condition that is associated with infanticide in many species [51], and with higher rates of child homicide, at least in Western countries [52]. This motivation may lead to a woman's new partner preferring a shorter IBI than a woman would [53,54]. This conflict of interest between reproductive partners means that a father may want a woman to devote more of her reproductive resources towards a current child that the father knows is his, rather than to her future offspring whom he may or may not father.…”

Section: (I) Women Sequentially Acquire New Matesmentioning

confidence: 99%

What do men want? Re-examining whether men benefit from higher fertility than is optimal for women

Moya

Snopkowski

Sear

2016

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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Several empirical observations suggest that when women have more autonomy over their reproductive decisions, fertility is lower. Some evolutionary theorists have interpreted this as evidence for sexual conflicts of interest, arguing that higher fertility is more adaptive for men than women. We suggest the assumptions underlying these arguments are problematic: assuming that women suffer higher costs of reproduction than men neglects the (different) costs of reproduction for men; the assumption that men can repartner is often false. We use simple models to illustrate that (i) men or women can prefer longer interbirth intervals (IBIs), (ii) if men can only partner with wives sequentially they may favour shorter IBIs than women, but such a strategy would only be optimal for a few men who can repartner. This suggests that an evolved universal male preference for higher fertility than women prefer is implausible and is unlikely to fully account for the empirical data. This further implies that if women have more reproductive autonomy, populations should grow, not decline. More precise theoretical explanations with clearly stated assumptions, and data that better address both ultimate fitness consequences and proximate psychological motivations, are needed to understand under which conditions sexual conflict over reproductive timing should arise.

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Fetal microchimerism and maternal health: A review and evolutionary analysis of cooperation and conflict beyond the womb

et al. 2015

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Summary The presence of fetal cells has been associated with both positive and negative effects on maternal health. These paradoxical effects may be due to the fact that maternal and offspring fitness interests are aligned in certain domains and conflicting in others, which may have led to the evolution of fetal microchimeric phenotypes that can manipulate maternal tissues. We use cooperation and conflict theory to generate testable predictions about domains in which fetal microchimerism may enhance maternal health and those in which it may be detrimental. This framework suggests that fetal cells may function both to contribute to maternal somatic maintenance (e.g. wound healing) and to manipulate maternal physiology to enhance resource transmission to offspring (e.g., enhancing milk production). In this review, we use an evolutionary framework to make testable predictions about the role of fetal microchimerism in lactation, thyroid function, autoimmune disease, cancer and maternal emotional and psychological health.

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Interbirth intervals: Intrafamilial, intragenomic and intrasomatic conflict

Cited by 28 publications

References 36 publications

Nutritional Phases in Prader-Willi Syndrome: Evolutionary and Clinical Interpretations

Nutritional Phases in Prader-Willi Syndrome: Evolutionary and Clinical Interpretations

What do men want? Re-examining whether men benefit from higher fertility than is optimal for women

Fetal microchimerism and maternal health: A review and evolutionary analysis of cooperation and conflict beyond the womb

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