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Comparative Study
. 1997 Mar 18;94(6):2762-5.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.94.6.2762.

Early mortality surge in protein-deprived females causes reversal of sex differential of life expectancy in Mediterranean fruit flies

H G Müller  1 , J L Wang, W B Capra, P Liedo, J R Carey
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Early mortality surge in protein-deprived females causes reversal of sex differential of life expectancy in Mediterranean fruit flies

H G Müller et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .

Abstract

Experiments based on over 400,000 medflies revealed that females maintained on a normal diet (sucrose plus protein) have a higher life expectancy than males maintained on a normal diet, with a difference of 1.30 +/- 0.27 days in favor of females. However, this sex differential reverses under protein deprivation, with a difference of 2.24 +/- 0.18 days in favor of males. The reversal of the male-female life expectancy differential is caused by a sustained surge in early female mortality under protein deprivation that is tied to egg-laying and physiological processes. In contrast, male mortality and life expectancy are only mildly affected by protein deprivation. The surge in early mortality for female medfly cohorts is an instance of a vulnerable period. These vulnerable periods are linked with patterns in hazard rates.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Estimated hazard rates for four groups of medflies: females, protein-deprived (solid); females, sugar-plus-protein diet (dashed); males, protein-deprived (dash-dot); males, sugar-plus-protein diet (dotted). Each curve is based on an initial number of more than 100,000 individuals. Time is in days on the x axis.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Estimated hazard rates obtained separately for each of 132 cohorts of medflies. Each cohort contains approximately 3000 medflies. Each panel consists of 33 estimated hazard functions for the female protein-deprived group (A), the female sugar-plus-protein group (B), the male protein-deprived group (C), and the male sugar-plus-protein group (D). Time is in days on the x axis.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Peak-aligned estimated hazard rates from 0 to 25 days. Hazard rates are shown separately for the four groups: females, protein-deprived (solid); females, sugar-plus-protein diet (dashed); males, protein-deprived (dash-dot); males, sugar-plus-protein diet (dotted). Each curve is based on an initial number of more than 100,000 individuals. Time is in days on the x axis.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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