Moreover, each gene contributes to a variety of features — this concept is called pleiotropy.

Regular exercise, subjective wellbeing, and internalizing problems in adolescence: causality or genetic pleiotropy?

Pleiotropic effects – The simultaneous effect of a given gene on more than one apparently unrelated trait.

The term antagonistic pleiotropy describes genes that can carry both beneficial and detrimental effects.

But as we know from our explanation of pleiotropy, changing one gene in a positive way could also have catastrophic unintended consequences.

This antagonistic-pleiotropy model presents ageing as a maladaptive byproduct of selection for survival and reproduction during youth.

This antagonistic-pleiotropy model presents aging as a maladaptive byproduct of selection for survival and reproduction during youth.

These genes can influence a variety of traits and can express themselves differently as we age, a characteristic know as pleiotropy.

Genes can influence a variety of traits and can also express themselves differently as we age (pleiotropy).

Advocates of the disposable soma and the antagonistic pleiotropy theory see aging as a negative but inevitable side effect of necessary functions.

Antagonistic pleiotropy may play a role, in that some genes that are beneficial in early life may be detrimental later.

Antagonistic pleiotropy occurs when a gene that is beneficial to survival in early life becomes harmful later on.

The NK model has found use in many fields, including in the study of spin glasses, epistasis and pleiotropy in evolutionary biology, and combinatorial optimisation.

A mutation can have multiple effects that present themselves differently in different tissue types, or different stages of life, a genetic phenomenon known as pleiotropy.

Like antagonistic pleiotropy, there is a trade-off: if you allocate energy to maintenance and repair, then you have fewer resources for reproduction.