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The death spiral: predicting death in Drosophila cohorts

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Abstract

Drosophila research has identified a new feature of aging that has been called the death spiral. The death spiral is a period prior to death during which there is a decline in life-history characters, such as fecundity, as well as physiological characters. First, we review the data from the Drosophila and medfly literature that suggest the existence of death spirals. Second, we re-analyze five cases with such data from four laboratories using a generalized statistical framework, a re-analysis that strengthens the case for the salience of the death spiral phenomenon. Third, we raise the issue whether death spirals need to be taken into account in the analysis of functional characters over age, in aging research with model species as well as human data.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Andrew Noymer for useful suggestions on the manuscript. We thank J. Curtsinger, E. Le Bourg, and T. Flatt for sharing data and answering questions about their research and two anonymous referees for helpful suggestions. This research has been supported by the Ayala School of Biological Sciences, University of California, Irvine.

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Author notes

  1. Parvin Shahrestani

    Present address: Department of Biological Science, California State University Fullerton, 800 North State College Blvd., Fullerton, CA, 92831-3599, USA

  2. Casandra L. Rauser

    Present address: UCLA Office of Vice Chancellor for Research-UCLA Grand Challenges, BOX 951405, 2248 Murphy Hall, Los Angeles, CA, 90095-1405, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA

    Laurence D. Mueller, Parvin Shahrestani, Casandra L. Rauser & Michael R. Rose

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  1. Laurence D. Mueller
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  2. Parvin Shahrestani
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Correspondence to Laurence D. Mueller.

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Mueller, L.D., Shahrestani, P., Rauser, C.L. et al. The death spiral: predicting death in Drosophila cohorts. Biogerontology 17, 805–816 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10522-016-9639-7

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