Living longer -- variability in infection-fighting genes can be a boon for male survival
Friday, May 11, 2012 - 09:01
in Biology & Nature
Females of mammals (including humans) tend to outlive males, a circumstance that is usually attributed to males´ more aggressive and hence energy-depleting behaviour, especially when they compete for females. This might also explain why males of many species usually show a higher parasite burden than females. Therefore, high variability of immune genes, supposed to reduce susceptibility to pathogens, may be more important for males.