The Danaid Theory of Aging

Abstract

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.

Involvement of Inheritance in Determining Telomere Length beyond Environmental and Lifestyle Factors

“…The disruption of these pathways can result in metabolic malfunction and aging. Epigenetic alterations, such as changes in DNA methylation, can affect gene expression patterns and contribute to aging [95]. Defects in the DNA repair pathway can cause genomic instability and damage [95].…”

“…Epigenetic alterations, such as changes in DNA methylation, can affect gene expression patterns and contribute to aging [95]. Defects in the DNA repair pathway can cause genomic instability and damage [95]. The "end replication problem" and DNA damage from oxidative stress make TL shorter with age and break down the telomeric DNA with each cell division [75,96].…”

On the Origin of Aging by Means of Natural Selection

“…In a recent paper [83,84], the authors proposed that when variation occurs in one trait rather than another, the differential distribution can be explained in several ways. Only one is relevant to the current theory, but two are discussed to distinguish the classic theory from the current one.…”

Editorial: Mechanisms and Pathways Contributing to the Diversity of Aging Across the Tree of Life

“…The adaptive hitchhike model by Omotoso and others ( Omotoso et al, 2021 ) suggests that pro-longevity mutations may arise for reasons unrelated to longevity and then hitchhike around the tree of life. In a complementary perspective, Wensink and Cohen ( Wensink and Cohen 2021 ) propose the Danaid theory of aging: that complex organisms are often unmaintainable, i.e. structured in ways that inadvertently prevent immortality, with clade-specific chance events having large impacts on the distribution of aging, lifespan, and the underlying mechanisms.…”