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Like Father, Like Child? Paternal Age at Birth and Offspring’s Facial Asymmetry and Distinctiveness. Symmetry (Basel) 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/sym14020344] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Paternal age at birth, a potential proxy of mutation load transmitted to the offspring, has previously been related to the offspring’s health, biological condition and reproductive potential. As higher facial asymmetry and distinctiveness serve as putative markers of the lower genetic quality of an individual, we hypothesize that more advanced paternal age at birth will be related to children’s higher levels of facial asymmetry and distinctiveness. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study evaluating the link between paternal age at birth and facial asymmetry in offspring. Based on archived photographs of 159 children born within 47 Polish families, we have conducted facial geometric morphometric measurements and calculated the levels of facial asymmetry and distinctiveness. The relationship between paternal age at birth and the offspring’s facial features was explored with the use of Bayesian Linear Mixed-effects Models, controlling for sex, age and birth order of the offspring, and maternal age at child’s birth. No associations between paternal age at birth and facial asymmetry or distinctiveness in children were found. The lack of such a relationship might be a result of the potentially insufficient influence of newly accumulated paternal mutations affecting the offspring’s phenotype or higher importance of maternal (prenatal) and postnatal environments in shaping facial features.
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Fieder M, Huber S. Contemporary selection pressures in modern societies? Which factors best explain variance in human reproduction and mating? EVOL HUM BEHAV 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2021.08.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
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Woodley Of Menie MA, Kanazawa S, Pallesen J, Sarraf MA. Paternal Age is Negatively Associated with Religious Behavior in a Post-60s But Not a Pre-60s US Birth Cohort: Testing a Prediction from the Social Epistasis Amplification Model. JOURNAL OF RELIGION AND HEALTH 2020; 59:2733-2752. [PMID: 32006140 DOI: 10.1007/s10943-020-00987-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/08/2023]
Abstract
Participation in social behaviors that enhance group-level fitness may be influenced by mutations that affect patterns of social epistasis in human populations. Mutations that cause individuals to not participate in these behaviors may weaken the ability of members of a group to coordinate and regulate behavior, which may in turn negatively affect fitness. To investigate the possibility that de novo mutations degrade these adaptive social behaviors, we examine the effect of paternal age (as a well-established proxy for de novo mutation load) on one such social behavior, namely religious observance, since religiosity may be a group-level cultural adaptation facilitating enhanced social coordination. Using two large samples (Wisconsin Longitudinal Study and AddHealth), each of a different US birth cohort, paternal age was used to hierarchically predict respondent's level of church attendance after controlling for multiple covariates. The effect is absent in WLS (β = .007, ns, N = 4560); however, it is present in AddHealth (β = - .046, p < .05, N = 4873) increasing the adjusted model R2 by .005. The WLS respondents were (mostly) born in the 1930s, whereas the AddHealth respondents were (mostly) born in the 1970s. This may indicate that social-epistatic regulation of behavior has weakened historically in the USA, which might stem from and enhance the ability for de novo mutations to influence behavior among more recently born cohorts-paralleling the secular rise in the heritability of age at sexual debut after the sexual revolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael A Woodley Of Menie
- Center Leo Apostel for Interdisciplinary Studies, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium.
- Unz Foundation, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
| | - Satoshi Kanazawa
- School of Management, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK
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Hu B, Shen N, Li JJ, Kang H, Hong J, Fletcher J, Greenberg J, Mailick MR, Lu Q. Genome-wide association study reveals sex-specific genetic architecture of facial attractiveness. PLoS Genet 2019; 15:e1007973. [PMID: 30946739 PMCID: PMC6448826 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1007973] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2018] [Accepted: 01/17/2019] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Facial attractiveness is a complex human trait of great interest in both academia and industry. Literature on sociological and phenotypic factors associated with facial attractiveness is rich, but its genetic basis is poorly understood. In this paper, we conducted a genome-wide association study to discover genetic variants associated with facial attractiveness using 4,383 samples in the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study. We identified two genome-wide significant loci, highlighted a handful of candidate genes, and demonstrated enrichment for heritability in human tissues involved in reproduction and hormone synthesis. Additionally, facial attractiveness showed strong and negative genetic correlations with BMI in females and with blood lipids in males. Our analysis also suggested sex-specific selection pressure on variants associated with lower male attractiveness. These results revealed sex-specific genetic architecture of facial attractiveness and provided fundamental new insights into its genetic basis. Facial attractiveness is a complex human trait well integrated into people’s daily life experience with profound influence on human behavior. Despite being widely studied in sociology, psychology, and related fields, its genetic basis remains poorly understood. Using carefully-measured facial attractiveness and dense genotyping data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, we identified novel genes for facial attractiveness, assessed the selection signature, and dissected the shared genetic architecture between facial attractiveness and various human traits. Interestingly, sex-specific genetic architecture of facial attractiveness was a recurrent pattern observed in almost all our analyses. Our results provided new insights into the genetic basis of facial attractiveness and have broad implications for the complex relationships between attractiveness and various human traits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bowen Hu
- Department of Statistics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States of America
| | - Ning Shen
- Department of Statistics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States of America
| | - James J. Li
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI
- Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States of America
| | - Hyunseung Kang
- Department of Statistics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States of America
| | - Jinkuk Hong
- Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States of America
| | - Jason Fletcher
- La Follette School of Public Affairs, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI
- Department of Sociology, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI
| | - Jan Greenberg
- Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States of America
- School of Social Work, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI
| | - Marsha R. Mailick
- Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States of America
- School of Social Work, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI
| | - Qiongshi Lu
- Department of Statistics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States of America
- Department of Biostatistics and Medical Informatics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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Social Epistasis Amplifies the Fitness Costs of Deleterious Mutations, Engendering Rapid Fitness Decline Among Modernized Populations. EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2017. [DOI: 10.1007/s40806-017-0084-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
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Woodley of Menie MA, Kanazawa S. Paternal age negatively predicts offspring physical attractiveness in two, large, nationally representative datasets. PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 2017. [DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2016.11.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
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Woodley of Menie MA, Fernandes HB. The secular decline in general intelligence from decreasing developmental stability: Theoretical and empirical considerations. PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 2016. [DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2015.12.035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/23/2023]
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Lee AJ, Mitchem DG, Wright MJ, Martin NG, Keller MC, Zietsch BP. Facial averageness and genetic quality: Testing heritability, genetic correlation with attractiveness, and the paternal age effect. EVOL HUM BEHAV 2016; 37:61-66. [PMID: 26858521 DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2015.08.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Abstract
Popular theory suggests that facial averageness is preferred in a partner for genetic benefits to offspring. However, whether facial averageness is associated with genetic quality is yet to be established. Here, we computed an objective measure of facial averageness for a large sample (N = 1,823) of identical and nonidentical twins and their siblings to test two predictions from the theory that facial averageness reflects genetic quality. First, we use biometrical modelling to estimate the heritability of facial averageness, which is necessary if it reflects genetic quality. We also test for a genetic association between facial averageness and facial attractiveness. Second, we assess whether paternal age at conception (a proxy of mutation load) is associated with facial averageness and facial attractiveness. Our findings are mixed with respect to our hypotheses. While we found that facial averageness does have a genetic component, and a significant phenotypic correlation exists between facial averageness and attractiveness, we did not find a genetic correlation between facial averageness and attractiveness (therefore, we cannot say that the genes that affect facial averageness also affect facial attractiveness) and paternal age at conception was not negatively associated with facial averageness. These findings support some of the previously untested assumptions of the 'genetic benefits' account of facial averageness, but cast doubt on others.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anthony J Lee
- School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Dorian G Mitchem
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, United States of America; Institute for Behavioral Genetics, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, United States of America
| | - Margaret J Wright
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Nicholas G Martin
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Matthew C Keller
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, United States of America; Institute for Behavioral Genetics, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, United States of America
| | - Brendan P Zietsch
- School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia; QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
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Huber S, Fieder M. Effects of Parental Socio-Economic Conditions on Facial Attractiveness. EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY 2014. [DOI: 10.1177/147470491401200514] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Socio-economic conditions during early life are known to affect later life outcomes such as health or social success. We investigated whether family socio-economic background may also affect facial attractiveness. We used the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study ( n = 8434) to analyze the association between an individual's parental socioeconomic background (in terms of father's highest education and parental income) and that individual's facial attractiveness (estimated by rating of high school yearbook photographs when subjects were between 17 and 20 years old), controlling for subjects' sex, year of birth, and father's age at subjects' birth. Subjects' facial attractiveness increased with increasing father's highest educational attainment as well as increasing parental income, with the latter effect being stronger for female subjects as well. We conclude that early socio-economic conditions predict, to some extent, facial attractiveness in young adulthood.
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Affiliation(s)
- Susanne Huber
- Department of Anthropology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Martin Fieder
- Department of Anthropology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
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Fieder M, Huber S. Paternal age predicts offspring chances of marriage and reproduction. Am J Hum Biol 2014; 27:339-43. [DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.22644] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/07/2014] [Revised: 09/14/2014] [Accepted: 09/26/2014] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Martin Fieder
- Department for Anthropology; University of Vienna; Althanstrasse 14 1090 Vienna Austria
| | - Susanne Huber
- Department for Anthropology; University of Vienna; Althanstrasse 14 1090 Vienna Austria
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Abstract
Natural selection defined by differential survival and reproduction of individuals in populations is influenced by genetic, developmental, and environmental factors operating at every age and stage in human life history: generation of gametes, conception, birth, maturation, reproduction, senescence, and death. Biological systems are built upon a hierarchical organization nesting subcellular organelles, cells, tissues, and organs within individuals, individuals within families, and families within populations, and the latter among other populations. Natural selection often acts simultaneously at more than one level of biological organization and on specific traits, which we define as multilevel selection. Under this model, the individual is a fundamental unit of biological organization and also of selection, imbedded in a larger evolutionary context, just as it is a unit of medical intervention imbedded in larger biological, cultural, and environmental contexts. Here, we view human health and life span as necessary consequences of natural selection, operating at all levels and phases of biological hierarchy in human life history as well as in sociological and environmental milieu. An understanding of the spectrum of opportunities for natural selection will help us develop novel approaches to improving healthy life span through specific and global interventions that simultaneously focus on multiple levels of biological organization. Indeed, many opportunities exist to apply multilevel selection models employed in evolutionary biology and biodemography to improving human health at all hierarchical levels. Multilevel selection perspective provides a rational theoretical foundation for a synthesis of medicine and evolution that could lead to discovering effective predictive, preventive, palliative, potentially curative, and individualized approaches in medicine and in global health programs.
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