DELAYED REPRODUCTION AND SLOWING RELATIVE MUTATION ACCUMULATION —“Delayed repr

DELAYED REPRODUCTION AND SLOWING RELATIVE MUTATION ACCUMULATION

—“Delayed reproduction leads to more chance of mutations (eg from sperm) and problems with poorer quality control on release of older eggs (eg trisomy twenty one is probably the tip of an iceberg of similar problems).

***But late reproduction also reduces the number of generations and the possibility of mutation accumulation from that cause – so that modern people only have two generations (e.g. average thirty plus years) – i.e. two new lots of mutations in sixty-something years – where in historical times there would have been three generations per 60-70 years – three lots of new mutations****.

So slowing reproduction (by increasing the average age of reproduction) may perhaps reduce mutation accumulation temporarily; given that the effect of aging on mutations may be less per decade than the effect of an extra generation of new mutations. “—