Why organisms age: Evolution ofsenescence under positive pleiotropy? Alexei A. Maklako, Locke Rowe and Urban Friberg Linköping University Post Print N.B.: When citing this work, cite the original article. Original Publication: Alexei A. Maklako, Locke Rowe and Urban Friberg, Why organisms age: Evolution ofsenescence under positive pleiotropy?, 2015, Bioessays, (37), 7, 802-807. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/bies.201500025 Copyright: Wiley-VCH Verlag http://www.wiley-vch.de/publish/en/ Postprint available at: Linköping University Electronic Press http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-117545 1 Why organisms age: Evolution of senescence under positive pleiotropy? Alexei A. Maklakov1, Locke Rowe2 and Urban Friberg3,4 1Ageing Research Group, Department of Animal Ecology, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden 2 Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, 25 Willcocks St., Toronto, ON, M5S 3G5, Canada 3Ageing Research Group, Department of Evolutionary Biology, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden 4IFM Biology, AVIAN Behavioural Genomics and Physiology Group, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden Corresponding author: Maklakov, A.A. (
[email protected]) Keywords: Aging, life-history evolution, mutation accumulation, positive pleiotropy senescence 2 Abstract Two classic theories maintain that aging evolves either because of alleles whose deleterious effects are confined to late life or because of alleles with broad pleiotropic effects that increase early-life fitness at the expense of late-life fitness. However, empirical studies often reveal positive pleiotropy for fitness across age classes, and recent evidence suggests that selection on early-life fitness can decelerate aging and increase lifespan, thereby casting doubt on the current consensus.