09.05.07
Tremough scientist helps find secret to a long life and sex appeal

A biologist from the University of Exeter's Tremough Campus, Penryn, has made a remarkable discovery. Working with researchers at the University of Glasgow, he has found that eating certain plant substances can slow down the rate of ageing, and that females prefer those mates because they live longer.

Carotenoids are naturally occurring yellow and red pigments found in plants. Animals that eat those plants can use the pigments to make themselves colourful in order to attract mates. But carotenoids are also antioxidants, which improve an animal's ability to combat oxidative stress and strengthen its immune system. This latest research has found for the first time that males eating more carotenoids were better able to protect their cells from damage and so lived longer, and that females found these long-lived males particularly attractive.

The work was carried out on sticklebacks, and compared fish that all received the same basic diet but had different amounts of carotenoid supplement. Male sticklebacks need carotenoids to produce the red throat patch that they develop in the breeding season and display to females. In sticklebacks, the female lays her eggs in a male's nest and then leaves, and it is the male alone who cares for the eggs and young.

"The most brightly coloured males often get the girl, but why females prefer such show-offs hasn't been clear," said Dr Jon Blount, Research Fellow at the University of Exeter's Tremough Campus. "Our study shows that redder males are more likely to be good fathers, because they can survive the demands of parenting."

"Carotenoids could play an important role in fighting the ageing process across animal species in general," said Blount. "Although we humans don't use bright red bellies to attract the opposite sex, it's good advice to eat more foods which contain such carotenoid pigments because of their health enhancing properties."

The study was carried out by the University of Exeter, University of Glasgow and the Akvaforsk Institute for Aquaculture Research in Norway. It is about to be published in the prestigious scientific journal 'Proceedings of the Royal Society'.

The £100 million Tremough Campus is a Combined Universities in Cornwall initiative of which the University of Exeter and University College Falmouth are two of the founding partners. It has received investment from the European Union (Objective One), the South West Regional Development Agency, and the Higher Education Funding Council for England, with support from Cornwall County Council. Set in 70 acres of countryside, but close to the waterside towns of Penryn and Falmouth, the campus offers a lively student community. The University of Exeter now offers degrees in Biology, Cornish Studies, English, Geology, Geography, History, Law, Mining Engineering, Politics and Renewable Energy on its Tremough Campus, which has expanded rapidly as part of the Combined Universities in Cornwall initiative.

For further information please contact Sarah Hoyle, Press Officer, University of Exeter on 01392 262062 or email s.hoyle@exeter.ac.uk.

The Objective One Programme for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly has invested in the Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC) project, both Phase 1 and Phase 2, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Social Fund (ESF). The University of Exeter and University College Falmouth are partners of the CUC.

Editor's notes:

Clare Morgan
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