Interbirth intervals: Intrafamilial, intragenomic and intrasomatic conflict

Abstract

Background and objectives: Interbirth intervals (IBIs) mediate a trade-off between child number and child survival. Life history theory predicts that the evolutionarily optimal IBI differs for different individuals whose fitness is affected by how closely a mother spaces her children. The objective of the article is to clarify these conflicts and explore their implications for public health.

Methodology: Simple models of inclusive fitness and kin conflict address the evolution of human birth-spacing.

Results: Genes of infants generally favor longer intervals than genes of mothers, and infant genes of paternal origin generally favor longer IBIs than genes of maternal origin.

Conclusions and implications: The colonization of maternal bodies by offspring cells (fetal microchimerism) raises the possibility that cells of older offspring could extend IBIs by interfering with the implantation of subsequent embryos.

Keywords: genomic imprinting; interbirth interval; microchimerism; parent–offspring conflict; secondary infertility.