THE ROLE OF PARENTAL AGE EFFECTS ON THE EVOLUTION OF AGING

Many studies have found that older parents have shorter-lived offspring. However, the evolutionary significance of these findings is poorly understood. We carried out large-scale demographic experiments to examine the direct effect of maternal age and paternal age on offspring aging in inbred and ou...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Evolution 2002-05, Vol.56 (5), p.927-935
Main Authors: Priest, Nicholas K, Mackowiak, Benjamin, Promislow, Daniel E. L
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age
Aging
Aging - genetics
Aging - physiology
Animals
Biological Evolution
Drosophila
Drosophila melanogaster - genetics
Drosophila melanogaster - physiology
Evolution
Evolutionary genetics
Female
Genotypes
Inbred strains
Lansing effect
Longevity
Longevity - physiology
Male
Maternal Age
maternal age effects
Mortality
mortality rate
offspring quality
Parents & parenting
Paternal Age
paternal age effects
REGULAR ARTICLES
senescence
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Summary:Many studies have found that older parents have shorter-lived offspring. However, the evolutionary significance of these findings is poorly understood. We carried out large-scale demographic experiments to examine the direct effect of maternal age and paternal age on offspring aging in inbred and outbred strains of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. We found that the age of mothers and, to a lesser extent, the age of fathers can have a large influence on both offspring longevity and the shape of the age-specific mortality trajectory. In two independent experiments we found that older mothers generally produced shorter-lived offspring, although the exact effect of maternal age on offspring longevity differed among strains. These results suggest that maternal age effects on progeny aging may influence the evolution of aging. Corresponding Editor: M. Whitlock
ISSN:0014-3820
1558-5646
DOI:10.1554/0014-3820(2002)056[0927:TROPAE]2.0.CO;2