Search results for "sex-specific ageing"

Data from: The "unguarded-X" and the genetic architecture of lifespan: Inbreeding results in a potentially maladaptive sex-specific reduction of fema…

2018

Sex differences in ageing and lifespan are ubiquitous in nature. The "unguarded-X” hypothesis (UXh) suggests they may be partly due to the expression of recessive mutations in the hemizygous sex chromosomes of the heterogametic sex, which could help explain sex-specific ageing in a broad array of taxa. A prediction central to the UX hypothesis is that inbreeding will decrease the lifespan of the homogametic sex more than the heterogametic sex, because only in the former does inbreeding increase the expression of recessive deleterious mutations. In this study, we test this prediction by examining the effects of inbreeding on the lifespan and fitness of male and female Drosophila melanogaster…