Parental breeding age effects on descendants’ longevity interact over two generations in matrilines and patrilines

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zac Wylde ◽  
Foteini Spagopoulou ◽  
Amy K Hooper ◽  
Alexei A Maklakov ◽  
Russell Bonduriansky

Individuals within populations vary enormously in mortality risk and longevity, but the causes of this variation remain poorly understood. A potentially important and phylogenetically widespread source of such variation is maternal age at breeding, which typically has negative effects on offspring longevity. Here, we show that paternal age can affect offspring longevity as strongly as maternal age does, and that breeding age effects can interact over two generations in both matrilines and patrilines. We manipulated maternal and paternal ages at breeding over two generations in the neriid fly Telostylinus angusticollis. To determine whether breeding age effects can be modulated by the environment, we also manipulated larval diet and male competitive environment in the first generation. We found separate and interactive effects of parental and grandparental ages at breeding on descendants’ mortality rate and lifespan in both matrilines and patrilines. These breeding age effects were not modulated by grandparental larval diet quality or competitive environment. Our findings suggest that variation in maternal and paternal ages at breeding could contribute substantially to intra-population variation in mortality and longevity.

1966 ◽  
Vol 112 (490) ◽  
pp. 899-905 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. L. Granville-Grossman

Reports that schizophrenics have older parents than non-schizophrenics (Barry, 1945; Goodman, 1957; Johanson, 1958; Gregory, 1959) are of considerable importance. If valid, they provide evidence for environmental causes of schizophrenia, and by analogy with other conditions where parental age effects have been noted may give some indication of the nature of these causes. There are, however, inconsistencies in these studies: thus Johanson and Gregory found a significant association between advanced paternal age and schizophrenia, but failed to confirm the maternal age effect noted by Barry and Goodman. These differences indicate the need for further investigation and this paper describes such a study.


2019 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 146-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathieu Simard ◽  
Catherine Laprise ◽  
Simon L Girard

Abstract BACKGROUND The effect of maternal age at conception on various aspects of offspring health is well documented and often discussed. We seldom hear about the paternal age effect on offspring health, although the link is now almost as solid as with maternal age. The causes behind this, however, are drastically different between males and females. CONTENT In this review article, we will first examine documented physiological changes linked to paternal age effect. We will start with all morphological aspects of the testis that have been shown to be altered with aging. We will then move on to all the parameters of spermatogenesis that are linked with paternal age at conception. The biggest part of this review will focus on genetic changes associated with paternal age effects. Several studies that have established a strong link between paternal age at conception and the rate of de novo mutations will be reviewed. We will next discuss paternal age effects associated with telomere length and try to better understand the seemingly contradictory results. Finally, severe diseases that affect brain functions and normal development have been associated with older paternal age at conception. In this context, we will discuss the cases of autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia, as well as several childhood cancers. SUMMARY In many Western civilizations, the age at which parents have their first child has increased substantially in recent decades. It is important to summarize major health issues associated with an increased paternal age at conception to better model public health systems.


2017 ◽  
Vol 284 (1862) ◽  
pp. 20171562 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruben C. Arslan ◽  
Kai P. Willführ ◽  
Emma M. Frans ◽  
Karin J. H. Verweij ◽  
Paul-Christian Bürkner ◽  
...  

Higher paternal age at offspring conception increases de novo genetic mutations. Based on evolutionary genetic theory we predicted older fathers' children, all else equal, would be less likely to survive and reproduce, i.e. have lower fitness. In sibling control studies, we find support for negative paternal age effects on offspring survival and reproductive success across four large populations with an aggregate N > 1.4 million. Three populations were pre-industrial (1670–1850) Western populations and showed negative paternal age effects on infant survival and offspring reproductive success. In twentieth-century Sweden, we found minuscule paternal age effects on survival, but found negative effects on reproductive success. Effects survived tests for key competing explanations, including maternal age and parental loss, but effects varied widely over different plausible model specifications and some competing explanations such as diminishing paternal investment and epigenetic mutations could not be tested. We can use our findings to aid in predicting the effect increasingly older parents in today's society will have on their children's survival and reproductive success. To the extent that we succeeded in isolating a mutation-driven effect of paternal age, our results can be understood to show that de novo mutations reduce offspring fitness across populations and time periods.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hilary Cope ◽  
Edward Ivimey-Cook ◽  
Jacob Moorad

AbstractParental age at reproduction influences offspring size and survival by affecting prenatal and postnatal conditions in a wide variety of species, including humans. However, most investigations into this manifestation of ageing focus upon maternal age effects; the effects of paternal age and interactions between maternal and paternal age are often neglected. Furthermore, even when maternal age effects are studied, pre- and postnatal effects are confounded. Using a cross-fostered experimental design, we investigated the joint effects of paternal and pre- and postnatal maternal ages on numerous offspring outcomes in a laboratory population of a species of burying beetle, Nicrophorus vespilloides. When we correct our tests for significance for multiple comparisons, we found no clear evidence for any parental effect senescence acting on egg size, larval weight, or larval survival. Nor did we find a statistical effect of paternal or egg producer age on the outcomes of foster mothers as measured by weight change experienced during caregiving. These findings are consistent with recent negative results reported in a similar study of N. vespilloides maternal age effects while also expanding these to other offspring traits and to paternal age effects. We discuss how the peculiar life history of this species may promote selection to resist the evolution of parental age effects, and how this might have influenced our ability to detect senescence.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
C. Lemvigh ◽  
R. Brouwer ◽  
R. Hilker ◽  
S. Anhøj ◽  
L. Baandrup ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Research has yielded evidence for genetic and environmental factors influencing the risk of schizophrenia. Numerous environmental factors have been identified; however, the individual effects are small. The additive and interactive effects of multiple risk factors are not well elucidated. Twin pairs discordant for schizophrenia offer a unique opportunity to identify factors that differ between patients and unaffected co-twins, who are perfectly matched for age, sex and genetic background. Methods Register data were combined with clinical data for 216 twins including monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) proband pairs (one or both twins having a schizophrenia spectrum diagnosis) and MZ/DZ healthy control (HC) pairs. Logistic regression models were applied to predict (1) illness vulnerability (being a proband v. HC pair) and (2) illness status (being the patient v. unaffected co-twin). Risk factors included: A polygenic risk score (PRS) for schizophrenia, birth complications, birth weight, Apgar scores, paternal age, maternal smoking, season of birth, parental socioeconomic status, urbanicity, childhood trauma, estimated premorbid intelligence and cannabis. Results The PRS [odds ratio (OR) 1.6 (1.1–2.3)], childhood trauma [OR 4.5 (2.3–8.8)], and regular cannabis use [OR 8.3 (2.1–32.7)] independently predicted illness vulnerability as did an interaction between childhood trauma and cannabis use [OR 0.17 (0.03–0.9)]. Only regular cannabis use predicted having a schizophrenia spectrum diagnosis between patients and unaffected co-twins [OR 3.3 (1.1–10.4)]. Conclusion The findings suggest that several risk factors contribute to increasing schizophrenia spectrum vulnerability. Moreover, cannabis, a potentially completely avoidable environmental risk factor, seems to play a substantial role in schizophrenia pathology.


2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (s41) ◽  
pp. 89-115
Author(s):  
Einat Gonen

Abstract This paper presents a diachronic study of Modern Hebrew agreement between numerals and their quantified nouns. This research is possible thanks to the discovery of two rare collections of recordings from the 1950s and 1960s, which document four generations of speakers and have become important sources of spoken Early Modern Hebrew. On the basis of these two corpora, I compare numeral agreement in the first two generations of speakers with present-day usage and analyze trends of change and conversation in Modern Hebrew. The study shows that the first generation of speakers (“Gen1”) largely acquired the gender distinction of cardinals. However, in contrast to other agreement issues that educated Gen1 speakers realized fully, numeral use showed variation and absence of agreement in a small set of cases. Moreover, some linguistic features of Gen1 Hebrew found in this study no longer characterize Present-Day Hebrew; among these features is prosodic conditioning, which led to a Gen1 tendency to use the feminine form of the numeral ‘four’ with masculine nouns more frequently than was the case with other numerals.


2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (6) ◽  
pp. 426-433 ◽  
Author(s):  
Devidas Menon ◽  
Alexa A. Nardelli ◽  
Tarek Motan ◽  
Kristin Klein ◽  
Tania Stafinski

Objectives: This review aims to assess the state of the science around the potential impact of certain patient characteristics on the safety and effectiveness of in vitro fertilization (IVF).Methods: Following Cochrane Collaboration guidelines and the PRISMA statement, a comprehensive systematic review of reviews and recent primary studies examining the impact of paternal age and maternal age, smoking, and body mass index (BMI) on the safety and effectiveness of IVF was performed. Papers, published between January 2007 and June 2014, were independently reviewed and critically appraised by two researchers using published quality assessment tools for reviews and primary studies. Due to heterogeneity across papers (different study designs and patient selection criteria), a qualitative analysis of extracted information was performed.Results: Seventeen papers (ten systematic reviews and seven primary studies) were included. They comprised evidence from retrospective observational studies in which maternal age, BMI, and smoking status were explored as part of secondary analyses of larger studies. The majority of papers found that the likelihood of achieving a pregnancy was lower among women who were >40 years, had a BMI ≥ 25 and smoked. Advanced maternal age and BMI were also associated with higher rates of preterm birth and low birth weight.Conclusions: Based on available evidence, it may be appropriate to consider “maternal age” and “morbid obesity” in public funding policies that aim to maximize the effectiveness of IVF. However, given inconsistencies in the effect of smoking across different pregnancy-related outcomes, support for incorporating it into funding conditions appears weak.


2016 ◽  
Vol 55 (6) ◽  
pp. 345 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luh Putu Rihayani Budi ◽  
Mei Neni Sitaresmi ◽  
I Gusti Ayu Trisna Windiani

Background The prevalence of autism spectrum disorders(ASDs) has increased 10 times over the past half century,while paternal and maternal age at pregnancy has alsoincreased. Studies looking for an association between paternalor maternal age at pregnancy and ASDs in offspring have notbeen conclusive.Objective To assess for possible associations between paternaland maternal age at pregnancy and ASDs in offspring.Methods This case-control study had 50 case and 100control subjects, each case was matched for age and genderto two controls. Case subjects were obtained by consecutivesampling of patients aged 18 months to 7 years who visited theDevelopmental Behavioral & Community Pediatrics OutpatientClinic and private growth and development centers from Januaryto April 2013, while control group were children of the sameage range and same gender who visited pediatric outpatientclinic at Sanglah Hospital mostly due to acute respiratory tractinfection, without ASDs as assessed by the DSM-IV-TR criteria.We interviewed parents to collect the following data: maternaland paternal age at pregnancy, child’s birth weight, historyof asphyxia, hospital admission during the neonatal period,pathological labor, maternal smoking during pregnancy, paternalsmoking, and gestational age. Data analysis was performed withChi-square and Fisher’s exact tests.Results Multivariable analysis showed that higher paternal ageat pregnancy was associated with ASDs in offspring (OR 6.3;95%CI 2.0 to 19.3; P 0.001). However, there was no significantassociation between maternal age during pregnancy and theincidence of ASDs. Asphyxia and paternal smoking were alsoassociated with higher incidence of ASDs in the offspring (OR10.3; 95%CI 1.9 to 56.5; P 0.007 and OR 3.2; 95%CI 1.5 to 6.9;P 0.003, respectively).Conclusion􀀃􀀳􀁄􀁗􀁈􀁕􀁑􀁄􀁏􀀃􀁄􀁊􀁈􀀃􀂕􀀗􀀓􀀃􀁜􀁈􀁄􀁕􀁖􀀃􀁌􀁑􀁆􀁕􀁈􀁄􀁖􀁈􀁇􀀃􀁗􀁋􀁈􀀃􀁕􀁌􀁖􀁎􀀃􀁒􀁉􀀃􀀤􀀶'􀁖􀀃in offspring by 6.3 times. In addition, paternal smoking increased the risk of ASDs in offspring by 3.2 times and asphyxia increasedthe risk of ASDs in offspring by 10.3 times.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (22) ◽  
pp. 10722-10732 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca E. Koch ◽  
James M. Phillips ◽  
M. Florencia Camus ◽  
Damian K. Dowling

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