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Differential fitness costs of reproduction between the sexes.

ABSTRACT: Natural selection does not necessarily favor maximal reproduction because reproduction imposes fitness costs, reducing parental survival, and offspring quality. Here, we show that parents in a preindustrial population in North America incurred fitness costs from reproduction, and women incurred greater costs than men. We examined the survivorship and reproductive success (Darwinian fitness) of 21,684 couples married between 1860 and 1895 identified in the Utah Population Database. We found that increasing number of offspring (parity) and rates of reproduction were associated with reduced parental survivorship, and significantly more for mothers than fathers. Parental mortality resulted in reduced survival and reproduction of offspring, and the mothers' mortality was more detrimental to offspring than the fathers'. Increasing family size was associated with lower offspring survival, primarily for later-born children, indicating a tradeoff between offspring quantity versus quality. Also, we found that the costs of reproduction increased with age more for women than men. Our findings help to explain some puzzling aspects of human reproductive physiology and behavior, including the evolution of menopause and fertility declines associated with improvements in women's status (demographic transitions).

SUBMITTER: Penn DJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1766423 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Differential fitness costs of reproduction between the sexes.

Penn Dustin J DJ Smith Ken R KR

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20061227 2

Natural selection does not necessarily favor maximal reproduction because reproduction imposes fitness costs, reducing parental survival, and offspring quality. Here, we show that parents in a preindustrial population in North America incurred fitness costs from reproduction, and women incurred greater costs than men. We examined the survivorship and reproductive success (Darwinian fitness) of 21,684 couples married between 1860 and 1895 identified in the Utah Population Database. We found that ...[more]

PMID: 17192400

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Project description:In this article, we present a method for designing, executing, and analyzing data from a microbial competition experiment. We use fluorescent reporters to label different competing strains and resolve individual growth curves using a fluorescent spectrophotometer. Our comprehensive data analysis pipeline integrates multiple experiments to simultaneously infer sources of variation, extract selection coefficients, and estimate the genetic contributions to fitness for various synthetic genetic cassettes (SGCs). To demonstrate the method, we employ a synthetic biological system based on Escherichia coli. Strains carry 1 of 10 different plasmids and one of three genomically integrated fluorescent markers. All strains are co-cultured to obtain real-time measurements of optical density (total population density) and fluorescence (sub-population densities). We identify challenges in calibrating between fluorescence and density and of fluorescent proteins maturing at different rates. To resolve these issues, we compare two methods of fluorescence calibration and correct for maturation by measuring in vivo maturation times. We provide evidence of genetic interactions occurring between our SGCs and further show how to use our statistical model to test some hypotheses about microbial growth and the costs of protein expression.IMPORTANCEFluorescently labeled co-cultures are becoming increasingly popular. The approach proposed here offers a high standard for experimental design and data analysis to measure selection coefficients and growth rates in competition. Measuring competitive differences is useful in many laboratory studies, allowing for fitness cost-correction of growth rates and ecological interactions and testing hypotheses in synthetic biology. Using time-resolved growth curves, rather than endpoint measurements, for competition assays allows us to construct a detailed scientific model that can be used to ask questions about fine-grained phenomena, such as bacterial growth dynamics, as well as higher-level phenomena, such as the interactions between synthetic cassette expression.

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Differential fitness costs of reproduction between the sexes.

Publications

Differential fitness costs of reproduction between the sexes.

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