The long lives of primates and the 'invariant rate of ageing' hypothesis.

Journal Article (Journal Article)

Is it possible to slow the rate of ageing, or do biological constraints limit its plasticity? We test the 'invariant rate of ageing' hypothesis, which posits that the rate of ageing is relatively fixed within species, with a collection of 39 human and nonhuman primate datasets across seven genera. We first recapitulate, in nonhuman primates, the highly regular relationship between life expectancy and lifespan equality seen in humans. We next demonstrate that variation in the rate of ageing within genera is orders of magnitude smaller than variation in pre-adult and age-independent mortality. Finally, we demonstrate that changes in the rate of ageing, but not other mortality parameters, produce striking, species-atypical changes in mortality patterns. Our results support the invariant rate of ageing hypothesis, implying biological constraints on how much the human rate of ageing can be slowed.

Full Text

Duke Authors

Cited Authors

  • Colchero, F; Aburto, JM; Archie, EA; Boesch, C; Breuer, T; Campos, FA; Collins, A; Conde, DA; Cords, M; Crockford, C; Thompson, ME; Fedigan, LM; Fichtel, C; Groenenberg, M; Hobaiter, C; Kappeler, PM; Lawler, RR; Lewis, RJ; Machanda, ZP; Manguette, ML; Muller, MN; Packer, C; Parnell, RJ; Perry, S; Pusey, AE; Robbins, MM; Seyfarth, RM; Silk, JB; Staerk, J; Stoinski, TS; Stokes, EJ; Strier, KB; Strum, SC; Tung, J; Villavicencio, F; Wittig, RM; Wrangham, RW; Zuberbühler, K; Vaupel, JW; Alberts, SC

Published Date

  • June 16, 2021

Published In

Volume / Issue

  • 12 / 1

Start / End Page

  • 3666 -

PubMed ID

  • 34135334

Pubmed Central ID

  • PMC8209124

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 2041-1723

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 2041-1723

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1038/s41467-021-23894-3

Language

  • eng