Department of Biology, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405, USA.
Biochemistry (Mosc). 2012 Jul;77(7):726-8. doi: 10.1134/S0006297912070048.
Pleiotropic theories for the evolutionary origins of senescence have been ascendant for forty years (see, for example, G. Williams (1957) Evolution, 11, 398-411; T. Kirkwood (1977) Nature, 270, 301-304), and it is not surprising that interpreters of demographic data seek to frame their results in this context. But some of that evidence finds a much more natural explanation in terms of adaptive aging. Here we re-interpret the 1997 results of the Centenarian Study in Boston, which found in their sample of centenarian women an excess of late childbearing. The finding was originally interpreted as a selection effect: a metabolic link between late menopause and longevity. But we demonstrate that this interpretation is statistically strained, and that the data in fact indicate a causal link: bearing a child late in life induces a metabolic response that promotes longevity. This conclusion directly contradicts some pleiotropic theories of aging that postulate a "cost of reproduction", and it supports theories of aging as an adaptive genetic program.
衰老的进化起源的多效性理论已经盛行四十年了（例如，参见 G. Williams（1957）的《进化》，11，398-411；T. Kirkwood（1977）的《自然》，270，301-304），因此，人口统计数据的解释者试图将他们的结果置于这一背景下也就不足为奇了。但是，一些证据在适应衰老的方面找到了更自然的解释。在这里，我们重新解释了 1997 年波士顿百岁老人研究的结果，该研究在他们的百岁老人女性样本中发现了晚育的过多现象。这一发现最初被解释为一种选择效应：绝经后期和长寿之间的代谢联系。但我们证明，这种解释在统计学上是牵强的，事实上，数据表明存在因果关系：晚育会引发促进长寿的代谢反应。这一结论直接反驳了一些衰老的多效性理论，这些理论假设存在“繁殖成本”，并支持衰老作为一种适应性遗传程序的理论。
