Correlated evolution of social organization and lifespan in mammals

Pingfen Zhu, Weiqiang Liu, Xiaoxiao Zhang, Meng Li, Gaoming Liu, Yang Yu, Zihao Li, Xuanjing Li, Juan Du, Xiao Wang, Cyril C. Grueter, Ming Li () and Xuming Zhou ()
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Pingfen Zhu: Institute of Zoology
Weiqiang Liu: Institute of Zoology
Xiaoxiao Zhang: Institute of Zoology
Meng Li: Institute of Zoology
Gaoming Liu: Institute of Zoology
Yang Yu: Institute of Zoology
Zihao Li: Institute of Zoology
Xuanjing Li: Institute of Zoology
Juan Du: Institute of Zoology
Xiao Wang: Institute of Zoology
Cyril C. Grueter: The University of Western Australia
Ming Li: Institute of Zoology
Xuming Zhou: Institute of Zoology

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-18

Abstract: Abstract Discerning the relationship between sociality and longevity would permit a deeper understanding of how animal life history evolved. Here, we perform a phylogenetic comparative analysis of ~1000 mammalian species on three states of social organization (solitary, pair-living, and group-living) and longevity. We show that group-living species generally live longer than solitary species, and that the transition rate from a short-lived state to a long-lived state is higher in group-living than non-group-living species, altogether supporting the correlated evolution of social organization and longevity. The comparative brain transcriptomes of 94 mammalian species identify 31 genes, hormones and immunity-related pathways broadly involved in the association between social organization and longevity. Further selection features reveal twenty overlapping pathways under selection for both social organization and longevity. These results underscore a molecular basis for the influence of the social organization on longevity.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-35869-7

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