Promislow Daniel
Department of Genetics, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602-7223, USA.
Behav Genet. 2003 Mar;33(2):191-201. doi: 10.1023/a:1022562103669.
Sex-related differences in longevity are common throughout the animal kingdom. Previous studies have suggested that at least part of these differences may be due to sex-specific costs of reproduction. Recently, workers have recognized that sexual conflicts of interest between males and females may play a significant role in the evolution of sexually dimorphic traits. Here I explore the possibility that sexual conflict may explain sex-specific differences in longevity and may act as a driving force in the evolution of senescence. I present comparative evidence for this hypothesis and discuss the potential relevance of sexual conflict theory to the search for specific genes that influence longevity. One implication of a sexual conflict theory of aging is that genes that influence senescence, and in particular those that affect sex differences in aging, may evolve very rapidly and so be difficult to detect.
寿命方面的性别差异在整个动物界都很常见。先前的研究表明，这些差异至少部分可能归因于特定性别的繁殖成本。最近，研究人员认识到，雄性和雌性之间的性利益冲突可能在两性异形性状的进化中发挥重要作用。在这里，我探讨了性冲突可能解释寿命方面的性别差异，并可能作为衰老进化驱动力的可能性。我为这一假设提供了比较证据，并讨论了性冲突理论与寻找影响寿命的特定基因之间的潜在相关性。衰老的性冲突理论的一个含义是，影响衰老的基因，尤其是那些影响衰老性别差异的基因，可能进化得非常快，因此难以检测。
