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Germline stem cell maintenance as a proximate mechanism of life‐history trade‐offs?
Author(s) -
Kaczmarczyk Angela N.,
Kopp Artyom
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
bioessays
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.175
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1521-1878
pISSN - 0265-9247
DOI - 10.1002/bies.201000085
Subject(s) - germline , biology , stem cell , caenorhabditis elegans , drosophila melanogaster , mechanism (biology) , evolutionary biology , life history theory , model organism , life history , computational biology , gene , genetics , ecology , philosophy , epistemology
We suggest that the commonly observed trade‐offs between early‐ and late‐life reproduction may be mediated by genetic variation in germline stem cell maintenance. Stem cell biology provides a natural framework and experimental methods for understanding the mechanistic basis of life‐history evolution. At the same time, natural variation in life‐history strategies can serve as a powerful tool for identifying the genes and molecular pathways involved in the maintenance of stem cells in aging adults. We illustrate the connections between life‐history and stem cells with examples drawn primarily from Drosophila melanogaster and Caenorhabditis elegans , and suggest a number of testable hypotheses and avenues for future investigation that can be addressed with existing models and tools.