Sex-specific fitness effects of nutrient intake on reproduction and lifespan

Diet affects both lifespan and reproduction [1-9], leading to the prediction that the contrasting reproductive strategies of the sexes should result in sex-specific effects of nutrition on fitness and longevity [6, 10] and favor different patterns of nutrient intake in males and females. However, males and females share most of their genome and intralocus sexual conflict may prevent sex-specific diet optimization. We show that both male and female longevity were maximized on a high-carbohydrate low-protein diet in field crickets Teleogryllus commodus, but male and female lifetime reproductive performances were maximized in markedly different parts of the nutrient intake landscape. Given a choice, crickets exhibited sex-specific dietary preference in the direction that increases reproductive performance, but this sexual dimorphism in preference was incomplete, with both sexes displaced from the optimum diet for lifetime reproduction. Sexes are, therefore, constrained in their ability to reach their sex-specific dietary optima by the shared biology of diet choice. Our data suggest that sex-specific selection has thus far failed fully to resolve intralocus sexual conflict over diet optimization. Such conflict may be an important factor linking nutrition and reproduction to lifespan and aging.     

Correlation between genetic and geographic structure in Europe

Understanding the genetic structure of the European population is important, not only from a historical perspective, but also for the appropriate design and interpretation of genetic epidemiological studies. Previous population genetic analyses with autosomal markers in Europe either had a wide geographic but narrow genomic coverage [1] and [2], or vice versa [3], [4], [5] and [6]. We therefore investigated Affymetrix GeneChip 500K genotype data from 2,514 individuals belonging to 23 different subpopulations, widely spread over Europe. Although we found only a low level of genetic differentiation between subpopulations, the existing differences were characterized by a strong continent-wide correlation between geographic and genetic distance. Furthermore, mean heterozygosity was larger, and mean linkage disequilibrium smaller, in southern as compared to northern Europe. Both parameters clearly showed a clinal distribution that provided evidence for a spatial continuity of genetic diversity in Europe. Our comprehensive genetic data are thus compatible with expectations based upon European population history, including the hypotheses of a south-north expansion and/or a larger effective population size in southern than in northern Europe. By including the widely used CEPH from Utah (CEU) samples into our analysis, we could show that these individuals represent northern and western Europeans reasonably well, thereby confirming their assumed regional ancestry.     

Quantification of Social Behavior in D. discoideum Reveals Complex Fixed and Facultative Strategies

Understanding the maintenance of cooperation requires an understanding of the nature of cheaters and the strategies used to mitigate their effects. However, it is often difficult to determine how cheating or differential social success has arisen. For example, cheaters may employ different strategies (e.g., fixed and facultative), whereas other causes of unequal fitness in social situations can result in winners and losers without cheating. To address these problems, we quantified the social success of naturally occurring genotypes of Dictyostelium discoideum during the formation of chimeric fruiting bodies, consisting of dead stalk cells and viable spores. We demonstrate that an apparent competitive dominance hierarchy of spore formation in chimera is partly due to a fixed strategy where genotypes exhibit dramatically different spore allocations. However, we also find complex, variable facultative strategies, where genotypes change their allocation in chimera. By determining the magnitude and direction of these changes, we partition facultative cheating into two forms: (1) promotion of individual fitness through selfish behaviour (“self-promotion”) and (2) coercion of other genotypes to act cooperatively. Our results demonstrate and define social interactions between D. discoideum isolates, thus providing a conceptual framework for the study of the genetic mechanisms that underpin social evolution.