Retired flies, hidden plateaus, and the evolution of senescence inDrosophila melanogaster
| Autor: | James W. Curtsinger |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2016 |
| Předmět: |
0301 basic medicine
Senescence education.field_of_study biology Ecology Period (gene) fungi Population biology.organism_classification Fecundity Rate of increase 03 medical and health sciences 030104 developmental biology Genetics Fundamental change Drosophila melanogaster General Agricultural and Biological Sciences education Drosophila Ecology Evolution Behavior and Systematics Demography |
| Zdroj: | Evolution. 70:1297-1306 |
| ISSN: | 0014-3820 |
| DOI: | 10.1111/evo.12946 |
| Popis: | Late-life plateaus in age-specific mortality have been an evolutionary and biodemographic puzzle for decades. Although classic theory on the evolution of senescence predicts late-life walls of death, observations in experimental organisms document the opposite trend: a slowing in the rate of increase of mortality at advanced ages. Here, I analyze published life-history data on individual Drosophila melanogaster females and argue for a fundamental change in our understanding of mortality in this important model system. Mortality plateaus are not, as widely assumed, exclusive to late life, and are not explained by population heterogeneity-they are intimately connected to individual fecundity. Female flies begin adult life in the working stage, a period of active oviposition and low but accelerating mortality. Later they transition to the retired stage, a terminal period characterized by limited fecundity and relatively constant mortality. Because ages of transition differ between flies, age-synchronized cohorts contain a mix of working and retired flies. Early- and mid-life plateaus are obscured by the presence of working flies, but can be detected when cohorts are stratified by retirement status. Stage-specificity may be an important component of Drosophila life-history evolution. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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