Natural Aging Helps Evolution if There’s Selection for Senescence [Study]

Natural aging is a significant part of evolution. However, according to a biologist, that is if there's a "selection for senescence."

Aging and Evolution

A new study based on a computer model created by a group at the HUN-REN Centre for Ecological Research in Hungary implies that aging can be positively chosen for, like other qualities.

Scientists have been studying the aging process and its accompanying degeneration of the body or senescence in recent years. According to the model, there are circumstances in which it might be advantageous for a species.

"Aging can have an evolutionary function if there is a selection for senescence," said evolutionary biologist Eörs Szathmáry from the HUN-REN Centre for Ecological Research. "We aimed to uncover this selection."

In such circumstances, strong kin selection genes have a higher probability of being passed on through the help of relatives, and strong directional selection evolutionary factors (such as predators or environmental change) steer features in a consistent direction required.

For instance, aging and death may benefit individuals more in a changing environment because they reduce competition, which hinders the survival and reproduction of more adaptive children with better gene compositions, according to Szathmáry.

Stated differently, natural aging and death create room for a new generation, which may possess superior gene combinations.

Furthermore, the researchers propose that kin selection would benefit strongly altruistic organisms that have more generations to survive during a protracted senescence. Stated differently, those who assist their kin in producing a new generation tend to inherit their aging genes more frequently.

Even though the human species may be fixated on delaying aging, senescence provides a significant evolutionary advantage that researchers are still working to comprehend fully.

"It has become accepted in the evolutionary biology community that the classical non-adaptive theories of aging cannot explain all the aging patterns of nature, which means the explanation of aging has become an open question once again," Szathmáry added.

What Is Senescence

Senescence is a process where cells enter a permanent growth arrest as cell division stops, but no individual cell dies. Cellular senescence or the senescence of the entire organism are the two possible outcomes.

It is typified by a cumulative degradation that occurs unevenly throughout organ systems, culminating in a slow reduction in function that eventually causes tissues to malfunction.

Senescence inhibits the growth of tumors, preserves tissue homeostasis, and performs functions in normal development. Senescence, however, has also been identified as a primary contributor to age-related illnesses. According to current experimental data, senescent cells can be genetically or pharmacologically abated to increase life expectancy and enhance health.

Numerous studies have been conducted to increase human longevity. Mice may be given longevity genes from the longest-living rodent species to extend their lifespan and improve their general health, according to a study from the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York.

Vera Gorbunova, the co-author of the paper and the Doris Johns Cherry Professor of Biology and Medicine at Rochester, says that their research provides proof of concept for the idea that unique longevity mechanisms that evolved in long-lived mammalian species can be exported to extend the lifespans of other mammals.

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