RESUMEN
Since its proposition in 1995, the Heumann-Hötzel model has remained as an obscure model of biological aging. The main arguments used against it were its apparent inability to describe populations with many age intervals and its failure to prevent a population extinction when only deleterious mutations are present. We find that with a simple and minor change in the model these difficulties can be surmounted. Our numerical simulations show a plethora of interesting features: the catastrophic senescence, the Gompertz law and that postponing the reproduction increases the survival probability, as has already been experimentally confirmed for the drosophila fly.
Asunto(s)
Envejecimiento , Mutación , Animales , Evolución Biológica , Senescencia Celular , Genética de Población , Genoma , Humanos , Modelos Biológicos , Modelos Genéticos , Modelos Teóricos , Probabilidad , Factores de TiempoRESUMEN
The time evolution of the Partridge-Barton model in the presence of the pleiotropic constraint and deleterious somatic mutations is exactly solved for arbitrary fecundity in the context of a matricial formalism. Analytical expressions for the time dependence of the mean survival probabilities are derived. Using the fact that the asymptotic behavior for large time t is controlled by the largest matrix eigenvalue, we obtain the steady state values for the mean survival probabilities and the Malthusian growth exponent. The mean age of the population exhibits a t-1 power law decayment. Some Monte Carlo simulations were also performed and they corroborated our theoretical results.
Asunto(s)
Evolución Biológica , Modelos Genéticos , Tiempo , Eliminación de Gen , Mutación , ProbabilidadRESUMEN
We introduce an age-structured asexual population model containing all the relevant features of evolutionary aging theories. Beneficial as well as deleterious mutations, heredity, and arbitrary fecundity are present and managed by natural selection. An exact solution without aging is found. We show that fertility is associated with generalized forms of the Fibonacci sequence, while mutations and natural selection are merged into an integral equation which is solved by Fourier series. Average survival probabilities and Malthusian growth exponents are calculated and indicate that the system may exhibit mutational meltdown. The relevance of the model in the context of fissile reproduction groups like many protozoa and coelenterates is discussed.