Perhaps this new scientific article (published today) may be interesting
to this discussion group:
EVOLUTIONARY THEORIES OF AGING AND LONGEVITY
Gavrilov LA, Gavrilova NS
TheScientificWorldJOURNAL, 2002, 2: 339-356.
Synopsis:
This is an introduction to the evolution of aging written for a wide
readership. Based on lectures taught by the authors at the University of
Chicago, this article provides a critical review of the most important
scientific publications on evolution of aging (104 references).
It also demonstrates that claims of impaired fecundity among
long-lived women, made by proponents of the disposable soma theory, were
based on incomplete data and, therefore, need to be reevaluated.
Abstract:
The purpose of this article is to provide students and researchers
entering the field of aging studies with an introduction to the
evolutionary theories of aging, as well as to orient them in the abundant
modern scientific literature on evolutionary gerontology.
The following three major evolutionary theories of aging are discussed:
1) the theory of programmed death suggested by August Weismann,
2) the mutation accumulation theory of aging suggested by Peter Medawar, and
3) the antagonistic pleiotropy theory of aging suggested by George Williams.
We also discuss a special case of the antagonistic pleiotropy
theory, the disposable soma theory developed by Tom Kirkwood and Robin
Holliday. The theories are compared with each other as well as with recent
experimental findings. At present the most viable evolutionary theories are
the mutation accumulation theory and the antagonistic pleiotropy theory;
these theories are not mutually exclusive, and they both may become a part
of a future unifying theory of aging.
Evolutionary theories of aging are useful because they open new
opportunities for further research by suggesting testable predictions, but
they have also been harmful in the past when they were used to impose
limitations on aging studies. At this time, the evolutionary theories of
aging are not ultimate completed theories, but rather a set of ideas that
themselves require further elaboration and validation.
This theoretical review article is written for a wide readership.
KEY WORDS: evolution, fitness, gerontology, lifespan, longevity,
mortality, mutation, reproduction, selection, senescence, survival,
trade-offs, antagonistic pleiotropy theory, disposable soma theory,
evolutionary theory, life extending mutations, life history theory,
mutation accumulation theory, natural selection, programmed death,
reproductive cost, reproductive success, single-gene mutations, theories of
biological aging
Link to the full text of this article in TheScientificWorldJOURNAL is
available through our website:
http://www.src.uchicago.edu/~gavr1/
==================================
______________________________________
Dr. Leonid A. Gavrilov, Center on Aging
NORC/University of Chicago
1155 East 60th Street
Chicago, IL 60637-2745
USA
Fax: (773) 256-6313, Phone: (773) 256-6359
FOR MORE INFO PLEASE VISIT OUR SCIENTIFIC WEBSITE :
http://www.src.uchicago.edu/~gavr1/
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