Why is stress so deadly? An evolutionary perspective

Lilach Hadany*, Tuvik Beker, Ilan Eshel, Marcus W. Feldman

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

19 Scopus citations

Abstract

The reaction of the body to prolonged stress has many harmful effects. Classical theory assumes that stress responses have evolved due to their short-term selective advantages ('flight or fight'), and despite their adverse long-term effects. In contrast, we demonstrate that the adverse effects of stress responses may have a selective advantage. Using an analytical model we show that a gene that causes the early death of a relatively unfit individual can increase in frequency in a structured population even if it has no positive effect on that individual. This result offers a new perspective on the relations between stress factors, stress responses and stress-related diseases.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)881-885
Number of pages5
JournalProceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Volume273
Issue number1588
DOIs
StatePublished - 7 Apr 2006

Funding

FundersFunder number
National Institute of General Medical SciencesR01GM028016

    Keywords

    • Altruism
    • Evolution
    • Stress
    • Stress-related disease

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