Molecular insights into anatomy and physiology

Cooper, Lisa Noelle; Gorbunova, Vera

doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-818969-6.00020-0

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

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“…Note, for example, that plants can handle polyploidy and aneuploidy, and even use it to their advantage ( Tudge, 2006 ), while mammals cannot. Within mammals, exceptional lifespans of naked mole-rats, blind mole-rats, and bowhead whales appear related to specific adaptations, unique in each species, to avoid certain aging mechanisms ( Gorbunova et al, 2012 ; Takasugi et al, 2020 ; Cooper and Gorbunova, 2021 ). It is unclear whether the adaptations discovered represent ways to constrain the most-limiting aging mechanisms in each species, or are a small subset of a large number of adaptations to limit a large number of mechanisms.…”

Section: The Comparative Biology and Evolution Of Unmaintainabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Danaid Theory of Aging

Wensink

Cohen

2022

Front. Cell Dev. Biol.

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The classical evolutionary theories of aging suggest that aging evolves due to insufficient selective pressure against it. In these theories, declining selection pressure with age leads to aging through genes or resource allocations, implying that aging could potentially be stalled were genes, resource allocation, or selection pressure somewhat different. While these classical evolutionary theories are undeniably part of a description of the evolution of aging, they do not explain the diversity of aging patterns, and they do not constitute the only possible evolutionary explanation. Without denying selection pressure a role in the evolution of aging, we argue that the origin and diversity of aging should also be sought in the nature and evolution of organisms that are, from their very physiological make up, unmaintainable. Drawing on advances in developmental biology, genetics, biochemistry, and complex systems theory since the classical theories emerged, we propose a fresh evolutionary-mechanistic theory of aging, the Danaid theory. We argue that, in complex forms of life like humans, various restrictions on maintenance and repair may be inherent, and we show how such restrictions are laid out during development. We further argue that there is systematic variation in these constraints across taxa, and that this is a crucial factor determining variation in aging and lifespan across the tree of life. Accordingly, the core challenge for the field going forward is to map and understand the mosaic of constraints, trade-offs, chance events, and selective pressures that shape aging in diverse ways across diverse taxa.

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Section: The Comparative Biology and Evolution Of Unmaintainabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%