Environmental challenges may impact on somatic repair

Abstract

During the process of ageing there is canalisation of repair resources which tend to flow from the soma towards the germ line. In the early periods of phylogenetic development there was a time when repair of germ line cells became more efficient compared to the repair of somatic cells. The level of somatic repair became just enough to ensure that the organism reached sexual maturity. It was the biological equivalent of the mathematical bifurcation, when the pathway developed preferentially towards the germ line attractor. We are now looking for evidence that this could be changing, that we may be witnessing a phase transition from effective germ line repair to an effective somatic repair. Here I consider mechanisms of fidelity-preservation which may be present in the germ line, and examine the possibility that these may be made to operate upon somatic cells instead. Mechanisms which safeguard the reliability of germ line repair and ensuring robustness/resilience in the germ line may also (or instead) be applicable upon somatic material (cells and molecules, factors) and ensure a continually effective repair of this somatic material. Thus the ability to continually repair and maintain somatic organic material within biological systems is not lost. Continual challenges from the environment ensure that the flow of information remains active and it persistently stimulates the ability to repair the soma. Apart from germ line cells, some unicellular organisms such as bacteria maintain their ability for ongoing repairs, a fact that indicates that, in principle, senescence is not unavoidable.

Clinical Effects of a 'Human-Computer' Interaction

“…The sheer magnitude of information load and the increased knowledge we are exposed to, creates new biological situations [48] , which may have a deep impact on our health. I have speculated that such an exposure to new information can influence our somatic repair processes and resource allocation mechanisms [49] . This may ultimately up-regulate our biological function directly, in a way that is radically different than Darwinian evolution by natural selection.…”