I see / smell / touch / hear and therefore I am: sex differences in perception alter survival and reproduction

我们繁殖的越多，寿命就越短。几十年来，从包括人类在内的许多不同动物身上收集到的证据支持了这一严酷的格言。雌性对增加繁殖的影响特别敏感，在使用昆虫的实验室测试中，改变繁殖的数量可以使雌性的寿命缩短多达一半，甚至颠倒哪个性别寿命最长。尽管进行了所有这些研究，但令人惊讶的是，我们对这些戏剧性影响如何发生的细节知之甚少。这在一定程度上是因为许多实验室研究是在相对同质的环境中进行的，在这种环境中，一生中受到同性或异性的潜在混淆影响的可能性很小，甚至没有。然而，越来越清楚的是，社会和性环境的影响会对衰老产生巨大影响。因此，许多旨在确定衰老途径的研究都遗漏了影响男女寿命的丰富来源。与此同时，一项新的研究显示了一些令人惊讶的事情：感知本身对寿命的作用。例如，仅仅是对同性或异性个体的感知，就能以一种完全模仿实际暴露的方式对生存和繁殖产生重大影响。类似的效果也被观察到与食物气味的影响有关，而不是实际吃它！我们建议使用强大的果蝇模型系统来研究社会和性环境对两性寿命、衰老和繁殖的感知效应的重要性和作用。我们还旨在展示这些影响是如何与营养感知基因联系起来的，这些基因本身对寿命有充分的影响。我们将分两部分来做：1。通过测量不同性别的焦点个体对不同性别个体的生存、衰老和生殖成功的影响：(i)同性、异性和两性个体，（ii）不同年龄的社会和性别群体，（iii）直接接触与不直接接触，（iv）阻塞的感官输入（嗅觉、听觉、视觉、触觉），(v)阻塞的生殖（不育/可育），（vi）“危险”，即死亡/活个体的存在。此外，我们将测试从以前的研究中突出显示的重要候选基因的影响。通过测量1中的操作对感知吃了多少和吃了什么的基因表达的影响。我们已经知道，这些基因在雄性和雌性中表现出非常不同的表达模式，当它们开始繁殖时，这种模式就会改变。通过测量1中使用的操作如何改变这些基因在两性中的活性，我们将能够提供对预期繁殖水平的感知、对营养物质感知的激活和最终寿命之间的直接联系。这将通过对候选基因的直接测试来证实，这些候选基因被强调为调节这些影响的关键。这项工作旨在提供重要的测试，以解释为什么繁殖会缩短寿命并加速衰老。它还将强调感知效应在决定寿命方面的重要性，并展示它是如何工作的。预计这项研究将在我们对男女寿命和衰老的基本理解方面取得重大进展，并将与人类研究直接相关，因为我们将研究的许多途径与我们自己共享。

The more we reproduce, the shorter we live. This stark maxim is supported by evidence gathered across decades from many different animals including humans. Females are particularly sensitive to the effects of elevated reproduction and in laboratory tests using insects, varying the amount of reproduction can decrease female length of life by up to a half, and even reverse which sex lives longest.Despite all this study, we have a surprising lack of knowledge about the details of how these dramatic effects occur. Partly this is because many laboratory studies are done in a relatively homogenous environment in which exposure to potentially confounding effects of the same or opposite sex throughout life are minimised or even absent. It is becoming increasingly clear, however, that effects of the social and sexual environment can have dramatic effects on ageing. Hence a rich source of effects on the lifespan of each sex is missing from many studies that aim to identify ageing pathways.Coupled with this, a new body of research is showing something really surprising: the role of perception itself on lifespan. For instance, the mere perception of same or opposite sex individuals, can have significant effects on survival and reproduction in a way that completely mimics actual exposure. Similar effects are observed in relation to the effect of the smell of food, versus actually eating it!We propose to use the powerful fruitfly model system to investigate the importance and role of the perceptual effects of the social and sexual environment on lifespan, ageing and reproduction in both sexes. We also aim to show how these effects are linked to those of nutrient sensing genes that themselves have well-documented effects on lifespan.We will do this in two parts:1. By measuring the effect on the survival, ageing and reproductive success of each sex of varying the exposure of focal individuals of both sexes to: (i) same, opposite and both sex individuals, (ii) social and sexual groups of varying age, (iii) direct versus no direct contacts, (iv) blocked sensory inputs (smell, sound vision, touch), (v) blocked reproduction (sterile / fertile), (vi) 'danger', i.e. the presence of dead / live individuals. In addition, we will test the effects of candidate genes highlighted as important from previous research.2. By measuring the effect of the manipulations in 1 on the expression of genes that sense how much and what has been eaten. We already know that such genes show a very different pattern of expression in males versus females and that this is changed when they initiate reproduction. By measuring how the manipulations employed in 1 change the activity of these genes in each sex we will be able to provide a direct link between perception of the expected level of reproduction, activation of nutrient sensing and ultimate lifespan. This will be confirmed by direct tests with candidate genes, that have been highlighted as key in mediating these effectsThe work aims to provide important tests of why reproduction shortens life and speeds up ageing. It will also highlight the emerging importance of perceptual effects in determining lifespan and show how this might work. The research is expected to result in a major advance in our fundamental understanding of lifespan and ageing in each sex and will have direct relevance to studies on humans, given that many of the pathways we will be studying are shared with ourselves.