Sexual Conflict, Ageing, and the Evolution of Cytonuclear Interaction.

线粒体(Mt)--动物和其他真核细胞的“动力工厂”--拥有自己的DNA，矛盾的是，有时进化的方式对宿主不利。线粒体疾病，如我们称之为阿尔茨海默病的神经退行性疾病是一个结果，但许多其他病理，包括衰老本身，可能与mt.功能进化障碍有关。因为线粒体是通过卵子传递的，即使是阻碍男性特有功能的缺陷也可能逃脱自然选择。精子尤其受线粒体DNA突变的影响，因为大多数动物精子需要高线粒体产量才能发挥作用；在男性中，线粒体缺陷是导致不育的非常常见的原因。但如此高的产量mt可能会危及卵和身体的生存，造成雄性和雌性之间的进化冲突。男性要影响mt的功能需要核内基因的干预，因此性别和mt之间存在着复杂、共同进化和冲突的关系。拟议的研究利用了果蝇独特的模型系统，在该系统中，1000多代人在极快和极慢的生命周期中进化，产生了16个在发育、繁殖和衰老方面截然不同的种群。在这些治疗之间交换mt对男性的生育力和老龄化有很大影响，但对女性没有影响，这与mt-core的性别冲突假说是一致的。这些影响可以用遗传学和显微镜的新技术来可视化，在这些技术中，精子头经过基因工程，发出红色或绿色的荧光，动物的整个生命周期都可以被研究，作为衰老研究的一个缩影。在这里，我们有一个无与伦比的机会来加深我们对生物学中一个主要的模型系统中与生育和衰老相关的遗传过程的理解。

Mitochondria (mt) - the "power plants" of animal and other eukaryotic cells - possess their own DNA and, paradoxically, sometimes evolve in ways that are unfavourable to their hosts. Mitochondrial diseases, such as the neurodegenerative condition we call Alzheimer's disease are one result, but many other pathologies, including ageing itself, may be related to dysfunctional evolution of mt. Because mt are passed down through the egg, even defects hobbling male-specific functions can escape natural selection. Sperm are particularly affected by mutations in mtDNA because most animal sperm require high mt output to function; in men mt defects are a very common cause of infertility. But such high output mt may compromise the survival of the egg and body, creating an evolved conflict between male and female. For males to influence mt function requires intervention by genes in the nucleus, and so a complex, coevolved, and conflicted relationship between the sexes and mt exists. Proposed research makes use of a unique model system in the fruit fly, Drosophila, in which over 1000 generations of evolution for extremely fast and slow life-cycles has produced a complex of 16 radically different populations with respect to development, reproduction and ageing. Trading mt between these treatments has a strong effect on male, but not female, fertility and ageing, consistent with the mt-nucleus sexual conflict hypothesis. These effects can be visualized using new techniques in genetics and microscopy, in which sperm heads are genetically-engineered to fluoresce -- red or green -- and animals can be studied across their entire life span as a microcosm for ageing research. Here we have an unparalleled opportunity to deepen our understanding of genetic processes related fertility and senescence in one of the premiere model systems in biology.