Biological Meaning of Aging (Theoretical Analysis)

Abstract

For many centuries, scientists have been trying to find an answer to the question: why do living organisms age? Many scientific theories have been proposed to explain individual mechanisms of aging. However, even their integral analysis does not allow us to develop a universal theory of aging. At the same time, all existing theories classify aging as a purely negative phenomenon of life. Target of review — to show the fundamental role of aging in the evolutionary development of living matter. A fundamentally new interpretation of the biological meaning of aging in the process of ontogenesis and the development of living nature as a whole is given in the form of a hypothesis of the collection, formation and archiving of structural information in the tissues of the body at the molecular level. It is assumed that evolutionary development is carried out through mutation of genome molecules and the conformation of protein molecules. These transformations result from the search by organic molecules for new information, which is archived in their structure in the form of rigid blocks. As information archives grow, the functionally active part of the organic molecule decreases. These changes are at the heart of the aging process. Upon reaching the limit of archival accumulation of new information, structural formations cease their vital activity and undergo metabolic processing by their own body or other organisms of the biosphere. A hypothesis has been put forward about the basic mechanism of aging of the body in the form of collection, processing and archiving of molecular biological information. The continuous exchange between organisms of constantly improving structural blocks of molecular information in the biosphere through universal metabolism determines the evolutionary development of living matter as a whole.