Velando Alberto, Torres Roxana, Alonso-Alvarez Carlos
Departamento de Ecoloxía e Bioloxía Animal, Universidade de Vigo, Vigo, Spain.
Bioessays. 2008 Nov;30(11-12):1212-9. doi: 10.1002/bies.20838.
August Weismann proposed that genetic changes in somatic cells cannot pass to germ cells and hence to next generations. Nevertheless, evidence is accumulating that some environmental effects can promote heritable changes in the DNA of germ cells, which implies that some somatic influence on germ line is possible. This influence is mostly detrimental and related to the presence of oxidative stress, which induces mutations and epigenetic changes. This effect should be stronger in males due to the particular characteristics of sperm. Here, we propose the hypothesis that females are able to avoid males with oxidatively damaged DNA in the germ line by using oxidative-dependent (pre- and post-mating) signals. This new hypothesis may shed light on unsolved questions in evolutionary biology, such as the benefits of polyandry, the lek paradox, or the role of sexual selection on the evolution of aging.
奥古斯特·魏斯曼提出，体细胞中的基因变化无法传递给生殖细胞，因而也无法传递给下一代。然而，越来越多的证据表明，一些环境影响能够促使生殖细胞的DNA发生可遗传的变化，这意味着体细胞对生殖系存在某种影响是有可能的。这种影响大多是有害的，并且与氧化应激的存在有关，氧化应激会诱发突变和表观遗传变化。由于精子的特殊特性，这种影响在雄性中应该更强。在此，我们提出一个假说：雌性能够通过利用依赖氧化作用的（交配前和交配后）信号来避开生殖系DNA受到氧化损伤的雄性。这一新假说或许能为进化生物学中一些尚未解决的问题提供线索，比如一妻多夫制的益处、求偶场悖论，或者性选择在衰老进化中的作用。
