Older fathers' children have lower evolutionary fitness across four centuries and in four populations.

ABSTRACT: Higher paternal age at offspring conception increases de novo genetic mutations. Based on evolutionary genetic theory we predicted older fathers' children, all else equal, would be less likely to survive and reproduce, i.e. have lower fitness. In sibling control studies, we find support for negative paternal age effects on offspring survival and reproductive success across four large populations with an aggregate N > 1.4 million. Three populations were pre-industrial (1670-1850) Western populations and showed negative paternal age effects on infant survival and offspring reproductive success. In twentieth-century Sweden, we found minuscule paternal age effects on survival, but found negative effects on reproductive success. Effects survived tests for key competing explanations, including m

SUBMITTER: Arslan RC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5597845 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature