Hostname: page-component-cc8bf7c57-ksm4s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-11T22:34:15.271Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A game theory appraisal of the insurance hypothesis: Specific polymorphisms in the energy homeostasis network as imprints of a successful minimax strategy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2017

Tobias A. Mattei*
Affiliation:
Interdisciplinary Research Group in Cognitive Psychology, Neuroeconomics and Game Theory – Neurosurgery and Spine Specialists, Eastern Maine Medical Center, Bangor, ME 04401. tobiasmattei@gmail.com

Abstract

The existence of specific polymorphisms in genes of key hormones of the energy homeostasis network that have been shown to predispose to obesity and the so-called metabolic syndrome provides further biological support for the proposed insurance hypothesis. In a broader sense, such polymorphisms can be understood as biological imprints of an evolutionarily successful minimax strategy employed by ancient Homo sapiens subpopulations in a one-player game against nature.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Chang, C.-S., Lu, Y.-J., Chang, H.-H., Hsu, S.-H., Kuo, P.-H., Shieh, C.-C., Yao, W.-J., Hsu, M.-C., Young, K.-C., Lin, W.-Y., Huang, K.-C., Wu, C.-H. & Tsai, Y.-S. (2016) Role of adiponectin gene variants, adipokines and hydrometry-based percent body fat in metabolically healthy and abnormal obesity. Obesity Research & Clinical Practice pii:S1871–403X(16)30031-X. doi: 10.1016/j.orcp.2016.05.003.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, B.-S. & Ho, S.-J. (2014) The stochastic evolutionary game for a population of biological networks under natural selection. Evolutionary Bioinformatics Online 10:1738. doi: 10.4137/EBO.S13227. eCollection 2014.Google Scholar
Mărginean, C. O., Mărginean, C., Voidăzan, S., Meliţ, L., Crauciuc, A., Dauicu, C. & Bănescu, C. (2016) Correlations between leptin gene polymorphisms 223 a/G, 1019 G/a, 492 G/C, 976 C/a, and anthropometrical and biochemical parameters in children with obesity: a prospective case-control study in a Romanian population – The Nutrichild Study. Medicine (Baltimore) 95(12):e3115. doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000003115.Google Scholar
Meier, U. & Gressner, A. M. (2004) Endocrine regulation of energy metabolism: Review of pathobiochemical and clinical chemical aspects of leptin, ghrelin, adiponectin, and resistin. Clinical Chemistry 50(9):1511–25.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Milnor, J. W. (1951) Games against nature. RM-679; U. S. Air Force Project RAND Research Memorandum. RAND. Available at: http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_memoranda/RM0679.html.Google Scholar
Mora, M., Adam, V., Palomera, E., Blesa, S., Diaz, G., Buquet, X., Serra-Prat, M., Martin-Escudero, J. C., Palanca, A., Chaves, J. F., Puig-Domingo, M. & The Matarό Aging Study Group (2015) Ghrelin gene variants influence on metabolic syndrome components in aged Spanish population. PLoS ONE 10(9):e0136931. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0136931.Google Scholar
Neel, J. V. (1999) The “thrifty genotype” in 1998. Nutrition Reviews 57(5 Pt 2):S2S9.Google Scholar
Pfeiffer, T. & Schuster, S. (2005) Game-theoretical approaches to studying the evolution of biochemical systems. Trends in Biochemical Sciences 30(1):2025.Google Scholar
Schuster, S., Kreft, J. U., Schroeter, A. & Pfeiffer, T. (2008) Use of game-theoretical methods in biochemistry and biophysics. Journal of Biological Physics 34(1–2):117. doi: 10.1007/s10867-008-9101-4.Google Scholar
Schuster, S., de Figueiredo, L. F., Schroeter, A. & Kaleta, C. (2011) Combining metabolic pathway analysis with evolutionary game theory: explaining the occurrence of low-yield pathways by an analytic optimization approach. Biosystems 105(2):147–53.Google Scholar
Speakman, J. R. (2008) Thrifty genes for obesity, an attractive but flawed idea, and an alternative perspective: The “drifty gene” hypothesis. International Journal of Obesity 32(11):1611–17. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2008.161.Google Scholar
Thaler, R. H. (1988) Anomalies: The winner's curse. Journal of Economic Perspectives 2(1):191202. doi: 10.1257/jep.2.1.191. JSTOR 1942752.Google Scholar
von Neumann, J. & Morgenstern, O., (1947) Theory of games and economic behavior. Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Zhu, X., Jiang, L., Ye, M., Sun, L., Gragnoli, C & Wu, R. (2016) Integrating evolutionary game theory into mechanistic genotype-phenotype mapping. Trends in Genetics 32(5):256–68. doi: 10.1016/j.tig.2016.02.004.Google Scholar