Mutation Selection Balance in Biodemography

Kenneth Wachter, University of California, Berkeley

What evolutionary principles underlie rises in mortality with age? Mutation accumulation mediated by mutation-selection balance is among the oldest answers to this question. A new mathematical model for mutation-selection balance has been developed jointly with David Steinsaltz and Steve Evans. This paper applies that model to controversial cases in biodemography, including proposals for explaining Gompertz hazard functions, for dealing with the breakdown known as the "Wall of Death'' and for incorporating social support and resource constraints into the evolutionary theory of senescence.