The evolutionary significance of depression in Pathogen Host Defense (PATHOS-D).

ABSTRACT: Given the manifold ways that depression impairs Darwinian fitness, the persistence in the human genome of risk alleles for the disorder remains a much debated mystery. Evolutionary theories that view depressive symptoms as adaptive fail to provide parsimonious explanations for why even mild depressive symptoms impair fitness-relevant social functioning, whereas theories that suggest that depression is maladaptive fail to account for the high prevalence of depression risk alleles in human populations. These limitations warrant novel explanations for the origin and persistence of depression risk alleles. Accordingly, studies on risk alleles for depression were identified using PubMed and Ovid MEDLINE to examine data supporting the hypothesis that risk alleles for depression originated and ha

SUBMITTER: Raison CL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3532038 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature