Data from: Heritability of lifespan is largely sex-limited in Drosophila

Males and females differ with respect to lifespan and rate of aging in most animal species. Such sexual dimorphism can be associated with a complex genetic architecture, where only part of the genetic variation is shared between the sexes. To the extent this is true for lifespan and aging is not known, since studies of lifespan have given contradictory results and because aging has not been studied from this perspective. Here we investigate the additive genetic architecture of lifespan and aging in Drosophila melanogaster. We find substantial amounts of additive genetic variation for both traits, and that more than three quarters of this variation is available for sex-specific evolutionary change. This result shows that the sexes have a profoundly different additive genetic basis for these traits, which has several implications. First it translated into an, on average, three times higher heritability of lifespan within compared to between the sexes. Second, it implies that the sexes are relatively free to evolve with respect to these traits. And third, as lifespan and aging are traits that integrate over all genetic factors that contribute to mortal disease, it also implies that the genetics of heritable disease differs vastly between the sexes.

在绝大多数动物物种中，雄性与雌性在寿命及衰老速率方面存在显著差异。这类性二态性（sexual dimorphism）往往与复杂的遗传架构相关联，且两性之间仅共享部分遗传变异。目前尚不清楚这一规律是否适用于寿命与衰老相关性状，原因在于现有寿命相关研究结论相互矛盾，且衰老相关研究尚未从该视角展开。本研究以黑腹果蝇（Drosophila melanogaster）为对象，探究其寿命与衰老相关性状的加性遗传架构。研究发现，这两类性状均存在大量加性遗传变异，且其中超过四分之三的变异可用于性别特异性的演化改变。该结果表明，两性在这两类性状的加性遗传基础上存在根本性差异，这一结论具有多重意义：其一，这意味着两性内部的寿命遗传力平均较两性之间高出三倍；其二，这表明两性在这些性状上拥有相对独立的演化空间；其三，由于寿命与衰老是整合了所有与致死性疾病相关遗传因素的性状，这也意味着遗传性疾病的遗传基础在两性之间存在显著差异。