Projects per year
Abstract
The theory that ageing evolves because of competitive resource allocation between the soma and the germline has been challenged by studies showing that somatic maintenance can be improved without impairing reproduction. However, it has been suggested that cost-free improvement in somatic maintenance is possible only under a narrow range of benign conditions. Here, we show that experimental downregulation of insulin/IGF-1 signaling (IIS) in C. elegans nematodes, a robustly reproducible life span- and health span-extending treatment, reduces fitness in a complex variable environment when initiated during development but does not reduce fitness when initiated in adulthood. Thus, our results show that the costs and benefits of reduced IIS can be uncoupled when organisms inhabit variable environments, and, therefore, do not provide support for the resource allocation theory. Our findings support the theory that the force of natural selection on gene expression in evolutionarily conserved signaling pathways that shape life-history traits declines after the onset of reproduction resulting in organismal senescence.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 551-564 |
Number of pages | 14 |
Journal | Evolution Letters |
Volume | 5 |
Issue number | 5 |
Early online date | 8 Sept 2021 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Oct 2021 |
Keywords
- Ageing
- antagonistic pleiotropy
- life-history evolution
- senescence
Projects
- 2 Finished
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The cost of longevity: transgenerational consequences of parental lifespan extension for offspring fitness
Maklakov, A., Chapman, T., Immler, S. & Thybert, D.
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
1/10/18 → 30/09/21
Project: Research
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Getting to the root of ageing: somatic decay as a cost of germline maintenance
1/09/17 → 28/02/23
Project: Research