How would you employ longitudinal data on fecundity, health and longevity in a large cohort of humans to test the antagonistic pleiotropy hypothesis of senescence? Specify your hypothesis and how you would test it.
The antagonistic pleiotropy hypothesis was first proposed by George C. Williams in 1957 as an evolutionary explanation for senescence.
Pleiotropy is the phenomenon where one gene controls for more than one phenotypic trait in an organism.
Antagonistic pleiotropy is when one gene controls for more than one trait, where at least one of these traits is beneficial to the organism's fitness and at least one is detrimental to the organism's fitness. If gene caused both increased reproduction in early life and aging in later life, then senescence would be adaptive in evolution. For example, follicular depletion in human females causes both more regular cycles in early life and loss of fertility later in life through menopause, it can be selected for by having its early benefits outweigh its late costs.
If fecundity, longevity and health will be controlled by a single gene then in early life he don't have to worry as his reproductivity is very good but in later phase of his life he will suffer several problems related to his reproductive organs and also he will not live long as this will also affect his longevity.
How would you employ longitudinal data on fecundity, health and longevity in a large cohort of...