Fruit Flies Exhibit Sex-Dependent Inheritance of Lifespan
A new study by German and Swedish researchers looks at previous assumptions by both biologists and physicians regarding the genetic risks of various diseases.
The team specifically looked at how sex and lifespan greatly affect genetic makeup, as well as various environmental factors, according to background information via the study.
In order to carry out their experiments, the study authors examined the heredity of fruit flies by cross-breeding them with special fly mutants. This enabled them to breed 50 hemi-clones or what is otherwise referred to as groups of individuals in which one-half of the genetic make-up is completely identical, while the other half are completely unrelated. From each hemi-clone, the researchers worked to determine the lifespan of 400 females and 400 males.
"What's special about this approach is that it enables us to measure the influence of this 50 per cent identical genetic make-up in both sexes," Dr. Holger Schielzeth from the Faculty of Biology said, via a press release.
More specifically, this means that genes in the father exert only a small amount of influence over the female descendants among fruit flies and vice versa.
The researchers conclude with the following regarding fatal hereditary diseases passed on to the same sex, via the release: "Gene variants that could be problematic for one sex seem to have only a comparatively low influence on the life expectation of the other sex', said Holger Schielzeth.
The study authors also note that these findings could also help determine life expectancy regarding genetic history.
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More information regarding the study can be found via the journal American Naturalist.
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