Sex gap in aging and longevity: can sex chromosomes play a role?

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Abstract

It is well known that women live longer than men. This gap is observed in most human populations and can even reach 10–15 years. In addition, most of the known super centenarians (i.e., humans who lived for > 110 years) are women. The differences in life expectancy between men and women are often attributed to cultural differences in common thinking. However, sex hormones seem to influence differences in the prevalence of diseases, in the magnitude of aging, and in the longevity between men and women. Moreover, far from being human specific, the sex gap in longevity is extremely common in non-human animals, especially in mammals. Biological factors clearly contribute to such a sex gap in aging and longevity. Different hypotheses have been proposed to explain why males and females age and die differently. The cost of sexual selection and sexual dimorphism has long been considered the best explanation for the observed sex gap in aging/longevity. However, the way mitochondria are transmitted (i.e., through females in most species) could have an effect, called the mother’s curse. Recent data suggest that sex chromosomes may also contribute to the sex gap in aging/longevity through several potential mechanisms, including the unguarded X/Z, the toxic Y/W and the loss of Y/W. We discuss future research directions to test these ideas.

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Most cited references 131

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Rosuvastatin to prevent vascular events in men and women with elevated C-reactive protein.

Paul Ridker, Eleanor Danielson, Francisco A.H. Fonseca … (2008)

Increased levels of the inflammatory biomarker high-sensitivity C-reactive protein predict cardiovascular events. Since statins lower levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein as well as cholesterol, we hypothesized that people with elevated high-sensitivity C-reactive protein levels but without hyperlipidemia might benefit from statin treatment. We randomly assigned 17,802 apparently healthy men and women with low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels of less than 130 mg per deciliter (3.4 mmol per liter) and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein levels of 2.0 mg per liter or higher to rosuvastatin, 20 mg daily, or placebo and followed them for the occurrence of the combined primary end point of myocardial infarction, stroke, arterial revascularization, hospitalization for unstable angina, or death from cardiovascular causes. The trial was stopped after a median follow-up of 1.9 years (maximum, 5.0). Rosuvastatin reduced LDL cholesterol levels by 50% and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein levels by 37%. The rates of the primary end point were 0.77 and 1.36 per 100 person-years of follow-up in the rosuvastatin and placebo groups, respectively (hazard ratio for rosuvastatin, 0.56; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.46 to 0.69; P<0.00001), with corresponding rates of 0.17 and 0.37 for myocardial infarction (hazard ratio, 0.46; 95% CI, 0.30 to 0.70; P=0.0002), 0.18 and 0.34 for stroke (hazard ratio, 0.52; 95% CI, 0.34 to 0.79; P=0.002), 0.41 and 0.77 for revascularization or unstable angina (hazard ratio, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.40 to 0.70; P<0.00001), 0.45 and 0.85 for the combined end point of myocardial infarction, stroke, or death from cardiovascular causes (hazard ratio, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.40 to 0.69; P<0.00001), and 1.00 and 1.25 for death from any cause (hazard ratio, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.67 to 0.97; P=0.02). Consistent effects were observed in all subgroups evaluated. The rosuvastatin group did not have a significant increase in myopathy or cancer but did have a higher incidence of physician-reported diabetes. In this trial of apparently healthy persons without hyperlipidemia but with elevated high-sensitivity C-reactive protein levels, rosuvastatin significantly reduced the incidence of major cardiovascular events. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00239681.) 2008 Massachusetts Medical Society

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Why do females mate multiply? A review of the genetic benefits.

M Jennions, M Petrie (2000)

The aim of this review is to consider the potential benefits that females may gain from mating more than once in a single reproductive cycle. The relationship between non-genetic and genetic benefits is briefly explored. We suggest that multiple mating for purely non-genetic benefits is unlikely as it invariably leads to the possibility of genetic benefits as well. We begin by briefly reviewing the main models for genetic benefits to mate choice, and the supporting evidence that choice can increase offspring performance and the sexual attractiveness of sons. We then explain how multiple mating can elevate offspring fitness by increasing the number of potential sires that compete, when this occurs in conjunction with mechanisms of paternity biasing that function in copula or post-copulation. We begin by identifying cases where females use pre-copulatory cues to identify mates prior to remating. In the simplest case, females remate because they identify a superior mate and 'trade up' genetically. The main evidence for this process comes from extra-pair copulation in birds. Second, we note other cases where pre-copulatory cues may be less reliable and females mate with several males to promote post-copulatory mechanisms that bias paternity. Although a distinction is drawn between sperm competition and cryptic female choice, we point out that the genetic benefits to polyandry in terms of producing more viable or sexually attractive offspring do not depend on the exact mechanism that leads to biased paternity. Post-copulatory mechanisms of paternity biasing may: (1) reduce genetic incompatibility between male and female genetic contributions to offspring; (2) increase offspring viability if there is a positive correlation between traits favoured post-copulation and those that improve performance under natural selection; (3) increase the ability of sons to gain paternity when they mate with polyandrous females. A third possibility is that genetic diversity among offspring is directly favoured. This can be due to bet-hedging (due to mate assessment errors or temporal fluctuations in the environment), beneficial interactions between less related siblings or the opportunity to preferentially fertilise eggs with sperm of a specific genotype drawn from a range of stored sperm depending on prevailing environmental conditions. We use case studies from the social insects to provide some concrete examples of the role of genetic diversity among progeny in elevating fitness. We conclude that post-copulatory mechanisms provide a more reliable way of selecting a genetically compatible mate than pre-copulatory mate choice. Some of the best evidence for cryptic female choice by sperm selection is due to selection of more compatible sperm. Two future areas of research seem likely to be profitable. First, more experimental evidence is needed demonstrating that multiple mating increases offspring fitness via genetic gains. Second, the role of multiple mating in promoting assortative fertilization and increasing reproductive isolation between populations may help us to understand sympatric speciation.

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Evolution of ageing

T Kirkwood (1977)

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Author and article information

Contributors

Gabriel A.B. Marais:

ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2134-5967

gabriel.marais@univ-lyon1.fr

Jean-Michel Gaillard: jean-Michel.Gaillard@univ-lyon1.fr

Cristina Vieira: cristina.Vieira@univ-lyon1.fr

Ingrid Plotton: ingrid.plotton@chu-lyon.fr

Damien Sanlaville: damien.sanlaville@chu-lyon.fr

François Gueyffier: francois.gueyffier@univ-lyon1.fr

Jean-Francois Lemaitre: jean-francois.lemaitre@univ-lyon1.fr

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Biol Sex Differ

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Biol Sex Differ

Title: Biology of Sex Differences

Publisher: BioMed Central (London )

ISSN (Electronic): 2042-6410

Publication date (Electronic): 17 July 2018

Publication date PMC-release: 17 July 2018

Publication date Collection: 2018

Volume: 9

Electronic Location Identifier: 33

Affiliations

[1 ]ISNI 0000 0001 2150 7757, GRID grid.7849.2, Laboratoire “Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive”- UMR 5558, , CNRS / Université Lyon 1, ; Villeurbanne, France

[2 ]ISNI 0000 0001 2163 3825, GRID grid.413852.9, Service d’Endocrinologie Moléculaire et Maladies Rares, Hospices Civils de Lyon, ; Lyon, France

[3 ]ISNI 0000 0001 2150 7757, GRID grid.7849.2, Service de Génétique, Hospices Civils de Lyon, CRNL, GENDEV team, INSERM U1028, CNRS UMR5292, , Université Lyon 1, ; Lyon, France

Author information

Gabriel A.B. Marais http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2134-5967

Article

Publisher ID: 181

DOI: 10.1186/s13293-018-0181-y

PMC ID: 6050741

PubMed ID: 30016998

SO-VID: 6c6d42ba-e2c0-45f4-ac90-91215ca7f8f9

License:

Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

History

Date received : 3 August 2017

Date accepted : 27 May 2018

Funding

Funded by: ANR

Award ID: ANR-15-CE32-0002-01

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ScienceOpen disciplines: Human biology

Keywords: longevity,aging,sexual dimorphism,sex hormones,mother’s curse,sex chromosomes,transposable elements,turner,klinefelter

Data availability:

ScienceOpen disciplines: Human biology

Keywords: longevity, aging, sexual dimorphism, sex hormones, mother’s curse, sex chromosomes, transposable elements, turner, klinefelter

Sex gap in aging and longevity: can sex chromosomes play a role?

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Most cited references 131

Rosuvastatin to prevent vascular events in men and women with elevated C-reactive protein.

Why do females mate multiply? A review of the genetic benefits.

Evolution of ageing

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