Physiol. Genomics 30: 205-208, 2007.
First published May 1, 2007; doi:10.1152/physiolgenomics.00043.2007
1094-8341/07 $8.00
Received 23 February 2007;
accepted in final form 26 April 2007.
Physiological Genomics 30:205-208 (2007)
1094-8341/06 $8.00 © 2007 American Physiological Society
Perspectives
Evolution, atmospheric oxygen, and complex disease
Lauren Gerard Koch and
Steven L. Britton
Functional Genomics Laboratory, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
If evolution is an accurate statement of our biology, then disease must be tightly associated with its patterns. We considered selection for more optimal capacity for energy transfer as the most general pattern of evolution. From this, we propose that the etiology of complex disease is linked tightly to the evolutionary transition to cellular complexity that was afforded by the steep thermodynamic gradient of an oxygen atmosphere. In accord with this thesis, clinical studies reveal a strong statistical link between low aerobic capacity and all-cause mortality. In addition, large-scale unbiased network analyses demonstrate the pivotal role of oxygen metabolism in cellular function. The demonstration that multiple disease risks segregated during two-way artificial selection for low and high aerobic capacity in rats provides a remote test of these possible connections between evolution, oxygen metabolism, and complex disease. Even more broadly, an atmosphere with oxygen may be uniquely essential for development of complex life anywhere because oxygen is stable as a diatomic gas, is easily transported, and has a high electronegativity for participation in energy transfer via redox reactions.
thermodynamics; metabolism; health; biocomplexity
Copyright © 2007 by the American Physiological Society.
