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bioRxiv · 10.64898/2026.09.04.749475

Convergent Amino-Acid Substitutions Link Primate Longevity to Male-Fertility Genes

Barteri, F.·Ramon, M.·Brigos, E.·Juan, D.·Muntane, G.·Navarro, A.
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Abstract

Maximum lifespan varies widely among mammals, but the genomic basis of this variation remains incompletely understood. We used body-mass-corrected longevity and a phylogenetically informed phenotype-shift framework to compare 126 primate species, selecting seven long-lived and six short-lived species for convergent amino-acid substitution analysis. Stringent pooling across species identified 1,068 recurrent phenotype-associated positions in 934 genes. These genes showed significant agreement with mammal-wide longevity candidates, with 226 genes shared compared with 120 expected by chance (1.88-fold enrichment; P = 1.16 x 10exp-22). Functional analysis detected 17 significant terms, with the strongest coherent signal involving male infertility and decreased male fertility. Our results show that focused primate sampling recovers a non-random component of the broader mammalian longevity signal and point to male reproductive biology as a promising direction for investigating the evolution of lifespan.

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Barteri, F., Ramon, M., Brigos, E., Juan, D., Muntane, G., Navarro, A.. 2026-09-10. Convergent Amino-Acid Substitutions Link Primate Longevity to Male-Fertility Genes. https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.09.04.749475

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