Evolution and Ecology Research Centre, and School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Australia.
Proc Biol Sci. 2012 Aug 22;279(1741):3121-30. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2012.0568. Epub 2012 May 30.
The links between fitness, health, sexual signals and mate choice are complex and subject to ongoing study. In 1999, von Schantz et al. made the valuable suggestion that oxidative stress may be an important missing piece of this complex puzzle. Their suggestion has been enthusiastically tested, with over 300 studies citing their paper, but most effort has concerned carotenoid-based (and to a lesser extent melanin-based) visual signals, predominantly in birds and fishes. Today, we know a great deal more about oxidative stress and related physiology, in both a pathological and regulatory sense, than we did in 1999. We revisit von Schantz et al.'s predictions and, more importantly, highlight novel mechanisms that could link oxidative stress with a range of energetically demanding signals, greatly increasing the scope from visual signalling systems that are usually discussed and nearly always tested. In particular, we argue that differences between individuals in their ability to regulate physiology related to oxidative stress may be an important factor influencing the production of sexual signals and the costs that are incurred from investment.
健康、性信号和配偶选择之间的联系是复杂的，并且还在不断研究中。1999 年，von Schantz 等人提出了一个有价值的观点，即氧化应激可能是这个复杂谜题中缺失的重要一环。这个观点得到了热烈的验证，已有超过 300 项研究引用了他们的论文，但大多数研究都集中在基于类胡萝卜素（以及在较小程度上基于黑色素）的视觉信号上，主要是在鸟类和鱼类中。如今，我们对氧化应激和相关生理学有了更多的了解，无论是在病理还是调节意义上，都比 1999 年时了解得更多。我们重新审视了 von Schantz 等人的预测，更重要的是，强调了新的机制，这些机制可能将氧化应激与一系列能量需求信号联系起来，极大地扩大了通常讨论和几乎总是测试的视觉信号系统的范围。特别是，我们认为，个体在调节与氧化应激相关的生理学方面的能力差异可能是影响性信号产生和投资所带来的成本的一个重要因素。
