Evidence map›Paper›PMID 15293851›Full record

ArticleProceedings. Biological sciences2004

Sex causes altruism. Altruism causes sex. Maybe.

Joel R Peck

Abstract readComparative Study
In one paragraph

Article in Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2004. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Altruism and antagonistic pleiotropy in Penna ageing model.Theory in biosciences = Theorie in den Biowissenschaften · 2005
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author.

Joel R PeckCentre for the Study of Evolution, School of Life Sciences, The University of Sussex, Brighton BNI 9QG, UK. j.r.peck@sussex.ac.uk

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

This study presents a mathematical model in which the fitness of an individual depends on the individual's genotype (individual effects) and on the genotypes of other members of the individual's local group (group effects). The findings suggest that, if phenotypes are a result of complex interactions between genes at different loci, then fitness-enhancing group effects may become common in sexual populations. The spread of fitness-enhancing group effects is facilitated when environmental conditions sometimes deteriorate temporarily. This is so even if the genotypes with the highest group effects also tend to have relatively low individual effects. In this sense, the process described here can lead to the evolution of altruism. By contrast, when populations are asexual it appears that group effects are much less important in determining the outcome of evolution. Thus, in nature, asexual populations may tend to be characterized by more antagonistic interactions than those that typically prevail when reproduction is sexual. This might help to explain why asexual lineages are prone to rapid extinction.

Indexed as

AltruismBiological EvolutionGenetics, PopulationModels, BiologicalPhenotypeSexSocial BehaviorAnimalsComputer SimulationEnvironmentGenotypeReproduction, AsexualSelection, Genetic

Identifiers

PMID15293851
PMCPMC1691695

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.