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Opportunity for selection in human health
1National Evolutionary Synthesis Center, Durham, NC, USA.
Advances in Genetics
|October 15, 2014
Summary
Natural selection influences human health and lifespan across all life stages and biological levels. Understanding multilevel selection offers new strategies for improving health and longevity through integrated medical and evolutionary approaches.
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary Biology
- Biodemography
- Human Health
Background:
- Natural selection, differential survival and reproduction, is shaped by genetic, developmental, and environmental factors throughout human life history.
- Biological systems exhibit hierarchical organization from subcellular to population levels, with natural selection potentially acting on multiple levels simultaneously.
- The individual is a key unit of biological organization and selection, situated within broader evolutionary, biological, cultural, and environmental contexts.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore human health and lifespan as outcomes of natural selection operating across all biological hierarchy levels and life phases.
- To identify opportunities for novel interventions by understanding the spectrum of natural selection.
- To advocate for the application of multilevel selection models in improving human health.
Main Methods:
- Conceptual framework integrating multilevel selection theory with human life history.
- Analysis of biological, sociological, and environmental factors influencing natural selection.
- Review of existing multilevel selection models in evolutionary biology and biodemography.
Main Results:
- Human health and lifespan are direct consequences of natural selection acting at multiple levels and across all life stages.
- Multilevel selection provides a framework for understanding health as an integrated outcome of various biological and environmental interactions.
- Numerous opportunities exist to apply multilevel selection principles to enhance healthy life span.
Conclusions:
- A multilevel selection perspective offers a theoretical foundation for synthesizing medicine and evolution.
- This synthesis can drive the development of predictive, preventive, palliative, curative, and individualized medical and global health strategies.
- Applying multilevel selection models can lead to more effective interventions across all hierarchical levels of human health.
Keywords:
Developmental demographyEvolution and medicineFitnessGenetic disease burdenIdentity-by-contextIndividualized medicineLansing rangeMultilevel selectionPopulation structureUnits and targets of selectionMore Related Videos
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