Researchers say the discovery could open new paths for understanding, and potentially separating, the biological links between development, aging, and disease. The work has been published in Nature Communications.

Gene discovery and evolutionary trade-offs

Researchers have identified a gene that directly links early-life growth and reproductive success with accelerated aging and increased cancer risk later in life, offering new insight into a longstanding theory in evolutionary biology.

Now, an international team led by Dr. Eitan Moses, Dr. Marva Bergman, and Prof. Itamar Harel at Hebrew University, in collaboration with Prof. Nabieh Ayoub (Technion) and Prof. Alexei A. Maklakov (University of East Anglia), provides experimental evidence for the theory of antagonistic pleiotropy, the idea that certain genes can provide advantages early in life while contributing to disease and decline in old age.

While widely accepted in theory, scientists have struggled to identify specific genes responsible for such trade-offs in vertebrates. Using the African turquoise killifish, a short-lived species recently pioneered by Harel and colleagues for genetic aging research, the team focused on the gene vgll3, which has been previously linked to the timing of human puberty and maturation in other species, particularly Atlantic salmon.