title: The fractionation experiment: reducing heterogeneity to investigate age-specific mortality in Drosophila.
abstract: Age-specific mortality rates decelerate at older ages in both genetically homogenous and heterogeneous populations of Drosophila. One explanation proposed for deceleration is population heterogeneity. This hypothesis suggests that a population consists of sub-populations that differ in mortality characteristics and that the deceleration is the result of selective survival of stronger individuals. Here we describe an experiment that fractionates populations into several sub-populations without changing the physiological characteristics of the post-fractionated populations. Through a careful process of selection of Drosophila eggs, larvae, pupae and adults, we attempt to reduce as much as possible the degree of pre-adult, environmentally induced heterogeneity among individuals of a genetically identical cohort. We then ask whether such cohorts, when compared to non-fractionated populations, exhibit a lesser degree of mortality deceleration at advanced ages. From a total of 106 fractionated and control populations, consisting of 51331 individuals, 101 populations (93% of the fractionated populations and 100% of the control populations) exhibit a significant amount of mortality deceleration late in life. These observations suggest that environmental heterogeneity accrued during larval development is not a major factor contributing to mortality deceleration at older ages.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul 55108, USA. arabk001@maroon.tc.umn.edu
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Khazaeli
authors.forename: S D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Pletcher
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Curtsinger
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D018740:Genetic Heterogeneity; D008297:Male; D008957:Models, Genetic; D009026:Mortality