W.G.VAN.DOORN at ATO.agro.nl wrote:
:: In our institute (of the Netherlands Department of Agriculture, located
: in Wageningen) we study both the fundamental and applied aspects of plant
: senescence.
: I became a member of this discussion group in order to learn the latest
: about the physiology and molecular biology of senescence in animal cells,
: as I intend to write a review comparing the mechanisms of senescence in
: plant and animal cells.
: First of all, although I have not found it, I wonder whether has such
: review has been published before. Secondly, I would be grateful for
: recent literature references to reviews regarding the cellular mechanisms
: of animal senescence.
: Plant senescence is now generally thought to be related to an increase
: in free radicals, due to a decrease in the activity of scavenging molecu-
: les. The free radicals then result in a decreased phospholipid content of
: membranes, which would explain why the cells show increased leakage of
: solutes.
:: You can also e-mail me directly: w.g.van.doorn at ato.agro.nl:: Wouter van Doorn
There seems to be no shortage of antioxidant theorys in ageing. I have a
hard time with these explanatioins as a single major cause of ageing due
to the enormous difference in life span of living things that all depend
on the similar type DNA programs. These life forms are all subject to
relitivly the same environmental damage to their DNA and yet for millions of
years they produce offspring that are virtually unchanged! The added
factor of metabolism dosn't seem to explain the life span difference
either because plants which have relitavly the same metabolism can live
from a few months to over 10,000 years (!), in the case of the bristle
cone pine.
Bionet/ageing has a FAQ that I found and it was a good read but I cant
remember how I got there but it has both siudes of many theorys listed.
