Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A Significant Component Of Ageing (Dna Damage) Is Reflected In Fading Breeding Colors: An Experimental Test Using Innate Antioxidant Mimetics In Painted Dragon Lizards, Mats Olsson, Michael Tobler, Mo Healey, Cecile Perrin, Mark Wilson

Mark R Wilson

A decade ahead of their time, von Schantz et al. united sexual selection and free radical biology by identifying causal links between deep-rooted physiological processes that dictate resistance to toxic waste from oxidative metabolism (reactive oxygen species, ROS), and phenotypic traits, such as ornaments.Ten years later, these ideas have still only been tested with indirect estimates of free radical levels (oxidative stress) subsequent to the action of innate and dietary antioxidants. Here, we measure net superoxide (a selection pressure for antioxidant production) and experimentally manipulate superoxide antioxidation using a synthetic mimetic of superoxide dismutase (SOD), Eukarion 134 (EUK). We then …