A test of evolutionary theories of aging.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
; 99(22): 14286-91, 2002 Oct 29.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-12386342
ABSTRACT
Senescence is a nearly universal feature of multicellular organisms, and understanding why it occurs is a long-standing problem in biology. The two leading theories posit that aging is due to (i) pleiotropic genes with beneficial early-life effects but deleterious late-life effects ("antagonistic pleiotropy") or (ii) mutations with purely deleterious late-life effects ("mutation accumulation"). Previous attempts to distinguish these theories have been inconclusive because of a lack of unambiguous, contrasting predictions. We conducted experiments with Drosophila based on recent population-genetic models that yield contrasting predictions. Genetic variation and inbreeding effects increased dramatically with age, as predicted by the mutation theory. This increase occurs because genes with deleterious effects with a late age of onset are unopposed by natural selection. Our findings provide the strongest support yet for the mutation theory.
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Envelhecimento
/
Evolução Molecular
/
Drosophila melanogaster
Tipo de estudo:
Prognostic_studies
Limite:
Animals
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
Ano de publicação:
2002
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Estados Unidos