Genetic analysis of extended lifespan in Drosophila melanogaster III. On the relationship between artificially selected and wild stocks

Adult lifespans, age-specific survival, age-specific mortality, survival times on paraquat, and survival times on DDT were assayed in seven lines of Drosophila melanogaster, including two genetically heterogeneous wild lines recently collected from nature, and three inbred and recombinant inbred lines derived from an artificial selection experiment for increased lifespan. Survival on paraquat is positively correlated with adult lifespan. DDT resistance is uncorrelated with either paraquat resistance or lifespan. The wild lines are unexceptional with respect to average lifespan, paraquat resistance, age-specific survivorship, and leveling off of mortality rates at advanced ages, but have high levels of DDT resistance. Cluster analysis groups the wild lines with three unselected laboratory stocks in one cluster, while two long-lived elite recombinant inbred lines form a second cluster. Long-lived laboratory-adapted lines are quantitatively differentiated from the wild stocks, both with respect to average adult lifespans and resistance to an oxidizing agent. We reject the 'recovery' hypothesis, which proposes that Drosophila artificially selected for long life have phenotypes that merely recover the wild state.