Being top baboon costs males their longevity 成為頂級狒狒會犧牲男性的壽命

News Release 6-Apr-2021

Editor’s note: What speeds up the aging process may not be the high ranking a male baboon enjoys. A high ranking baboon experiences accelerated aging likely because he has more sexu al activities. This activity results in a new generation, but it comes with a cost. Some animals die quickly after such an act. Some animals shorten their lifespan because of that activity. Humans are no exception. Monks and nuns know the trick and they try to avoid it. One thing to help them to avoid such a degenerative activity is use plant-based diet which is not as promoting the formation of se xual hormones as foods derived from animals. The Bible shows God’s intention – He wants humans to multiply. He designs a way to secure the production of offspring. If you know some human reproductive physiology, you would be amazed. Of course, stress is another risk factor that promotes aging.

編者註：加速衰老過程的可能不是雄狒狒所享有的最高排名。 高等級狒狒可能會加速衰老，可能是因為他有更多的性行為。 這項活動帶來了新一代，但要付出代價。 這樣的行為會使一些動物很快死亡。 一些動物由於這種活動而縮短了壽命。 人類也不例外。 僧侶和尼姑都知道這個竅門，所以他們盡量避免。 幫助他們避免這種退化性活動的一件事是使用植物性飲食，這種飲食不像源自動物的食物那樣促進性激素的形成。 聖經表明了上帝的意圖-他希望人類繁衍。 他設計了一種確保後代生產的方法。 如果您知道一些人類生殖生理學，您會感到驚訝。 當然，壓力是促進衰老的另一個危險因素。

Struggle for dominance leaves a mark on genes and speeds up aging

Duke University

Research News

DURHAM, N.C. — Some guys have it all: the muscle, the power, the high social status, the accelerated aging.

But wait. Faster aging? Who wants that? For male baboons, it’s the price they pay to be at the top.

New research appearing April 6 in eLife by Jenny Tung, associate professor of evolutionary anthropology and biology at Duke University, and her colleagues shows that male baboons that climb the social ladder age faster than males with lower social standing. If a male drops in social status, his estimated rate of aging drops as well.

Using blood samples from 245 wild baboons in the Amboseli ecosystem in Kenya, the team analyzed chemical modifications to DNA known as DNA methylation marks.

“These marks change with age in a clock-like fashion,” Tung said. “However, environmental stressors can make the clock tick faster.” This would make an individual appear older than they really are, and, research in humans suggests, can put them at a higher risk of aging-related disease.

Since this cohort of baboons is one of the most intensively studied wild mammal populations in the world, the researchers already knew not only each baboon’s age, but also the environment in which they grew up, their exposure to early life adversity, and a great deal about their adult environment, especially the aspects that predict how long they live and how many offspring they leave behind.

“We used DNA methylation to compare the baboons known ages to their ‘biological ages,'” said Jordan Anderson, a graduate student in the Tung lab who co-led the work. These methylation markers are found across the genome, so the team first needed to measure a large number of these sites – about 400,000 of them – and then, through statistical methods and models, whittle the number of sites down to about 500 that best predicted age.

Interestingly, for males, early life adversity didn’t affect how fast their biological clocks tick.

Adult social status was the strongest factor that affected aging. “Male baboons who compete successfully for high social status appear to age faster,” Tung said. “We repeatedly sampled some of these males and were able to show that the clock can speed up or slow down as males move up or down the social ladder.”

This is contrary to what we see in humans. Typically, high social status in humans predicts better health, not worse. The most wealthy and powerful humans have access to and can afford the best houses, schools, healthcare and more. Those who live in poverty and have lower socioeconomic status are at increased risk and have higher rates of disease, cancer and all-cause mortality.

Male baboons, though, have to fight for their social status. Because of this, it’s common to see male-male competition on a regular basis, where baboon observers can see a clear winner and a clear loser.

To maintain their social status, males at the top regularly have to hold their ground and defend themselves physically. Because of this, male baboons at the top tend to have more muscle mass and better body condition than lower ranking baboons. But as their physicality starts to diminish with age, a new, younger, stronger male may overcome them for the top spot.

High ranking males also spend a lot of time mate-guarding females. Around ovulation, they follow females closely and ward off other males. Mate-guarding constrains a male’s other activities, and Tung and her team think it is likely to be energetically costly — perhaps helping to explain their accelerated aging result.

So why do these males work so hard to achieve a high stress social status? It’s simple: to have offspring.

“If male baboons are going to have babies, they need to achieve high rank,” Tung said. “They will have very little chance to leave offspring if they don’t achieve high rank, which creates a powerful evolutionary motivation.”

This study highlights one way that the social environment can influence aging. “Our research shows that the manner in which social status is attained and maintained is crucial to understanding its consequences,” Tung said.

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This research was supported by the US National Science Foundation and the US National Institutes of Health, Canadian Institute of Advanced Research, North Carolina Biotechnology Center, and the Center for Population Health and Aging. (2018264636, IOS1456832, R01AG053308, R01AG053330, R01HD088558, P01AG031719, F32HD095616, 2016-IDG-1013, P30AG034424)

CITATION: “High Social Status Males Experience Accelerated Epigenetic Aging in Wild Baboons,” Jordan A. Anderson, Rachel A. Johnston, Amanda J. Lea, Fernando A. Campos, Tawni N. Voyles, Mercy Y. Akinyi, Susan C. Alberts, Elizabeth A. Archie, Jenny Tung. eLife, April 6, 2021. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.66128