Michael Rose
U.C. Of Irvine
Evolutionary biologist
Acheivements:
Double the lifespans of Fruit Flies
Michael Rose's Site
Rose Says:
Why do organisms that have undergone an elaborate process of growth and differentiation to achieve reproductive maturity then proceed to deteriorate, some slowly but some rapidly, over the rest of their lives? This phenomenon of aging is one of the great paradoxes of life, one that has been resolved only in the last ten years. Then again, following Aristotle's comments more than two millennia ago, is this aging related to the health of the young organism, or are youthful function and senescence independent of each other? Put another way, how is fitness connected to aging in the overall determination of life-history?
These are questions that can be answered both theoretically and experimentally. My major scientific focus over the last fifteen years has been experimental tests of evolutionary theories for the evolution of aging, fitness, life-histories, etc., on Drosophila melanogaster , although I collaborate with other investigators using different species. We have experimentally tested the general theory that aging evolves because of a decline in the force of selection with adult age. Another major theme in our work has been the degree to which the population genetics of life-history and deleterious effects at other ages - that is, "trade-offs." We have also been investigating the physiological basis of genetic variation in life-histories.
Among our most important findings are that the biology of aging can be well-explained by the evolutionary theory of aging. In addition, the application of that evolutionary theory can help to unravel the physiological mechanisms of aging. To be more concrete, in our Drosophila system, one of the major limiting factors for later survival and reproduction is the storage of calories in the form of lipid or glycogen. We have managed to double lifespan in fly populations by the use of selection. We have also found that virginity and dietary restriction can be used to postpone aging. We have had some success with the population genetics of postponed aging: out of some 100 or more loci that may be involved, we are on the trail of about ten genes. We are trying to identify these genes so that we can analyze their effects more precisely.
I have also taken up theoretical problems from time to time. Prominent among these are the evolution of genetic systems, especially mechanisms of speciation, the origin of sex, and the maintenance of sex in the face of invading parthenogens. I have also worked on evolutionary game theory, particularly applications to hominid evolution and to the behavior of pathological humans. My inclinations as a theoretician are to start from a novel biological hypothesis, rather than a specific mathematical tool, using models of the greatest possible simplicity.
