title: Fertility/longevity trade-offs under limiting-male conditions in mating populations of Caenorhabditis elegans.
abstract: Evolutionary theories of aging suggest that trade-offs between longevity and fitness should be found under certain conditions. In C. elegans, there is little evidence for the existence of such trade-offs. We asked if fertility/longevity trade-offs exist in populations of randomly mating males and hermaphrodites. We set up a large population of young males and 5-day-old hermaphrodites that were no longer self-fertile. We then allowed them to mate for one day with an equal number young males and then separated hermaphrodites to individual plates and determined daily fertility of individual hermaphrodites. There was a significant negative relationship between late-life fertility and individual longevity.
authors: Institute for Behavioral Genetics, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.
authors: Deqing
authors: D
authors: Wu
authors: Patricia M
authors: PM
authors: Tedesco
authors: Patrick C
authors: PC
authors: Phillips
authors: Thomas E
authors: TE
authors: Johnson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000502:physiology*; D005298:Fertility / Q000502:physiology; D057850:Hermaphroditic Organisms / Q000502:physiology; D008136:Longevity / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology