scholarly journals Evolutionary Theories of Aging and Longevity

2002 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 339-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonid A. Gavrilov ◽  
Natalia S. Gavrilova
Keyword(s):  
Mutation Accumulation ◽  
Antagonistic Pleiotropy ◽  
August Weismann ◽  
Evolutionary Theories ◽  
Theories Of Aging ◽  
Programmed Death ◽  
Aging Studies ◽  
Theory Of Aging ◽  
Wide Readership ◽  
Experimental Findings

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 oppor-tunities 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.

scholarly journals Evolution of age-specific decline in stress phenotypes is driven by both antagonistic pleiotropy and mutation accumulation

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth R. Everman ◽  
Theodore J. Morgan
Keyword(s):  
Stress Response ◽  
Cold Stress ◽  
Association Mapping ◽  
Genetic Architecture ◽  
Mutation Accumulation ◽  
Antagonistic Pleiotropy ◽  
Starvation Resistance ◽  
Theories Of Aging ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Stress Survival

AbstractEfforts to more fully understand and test evolutionary theories of aging have produced distinct predictions for mutation accumulation (MA) and antagonistic pleiotropy (AP) mechanisms. We build on these predictions through the use of association mapping and investigation of the change in additive effects of polymorphisms across age and among traits for multiple stress response phenotypes. We found that cold stress survival with acclimation, cold stress survival without acclimation, and starvation resistance declined with age and that changes in the genetic architecture of each phenotype were consistent with MA predictions. We used a novel test for MA and AP by calculating the additive effect of polymorphisms across ages and found support for both MA and AP mechanisms in the age-related decline in stress tolerance. These patterns suggest both MA and AP contribute to age-related change in stress response and highlight the utility of association mapping to identify genetic shifts across age.

scholarly journals The Danaid Theory of Aging

2022 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maarten J. Wensink ◽  
Alan A. Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Selection Pressure ◽  
Evolutionary Theories ◽  
Complex Systems Theory ◽  
Selective Pressures ◽  
Theories Of Aging ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Chance Events ◽  
Theory Of Aging ◽  
Evolution Of Aging ◽  
Complex Forms

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.

scholarly journals The Evolutionary Theories of Aging Revisited – A Mini-Review

Gerontology ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Predrag Ljubuncic ◽  
Abraham Z. Reznick
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Theories ◽  
Theories Of Aging

scholarly journals Masculinity beyond repair

Anafora ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 469-491
Author(s):  
Stela Dujaković
Keyword(s):  
Identity Construction ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Gender Stereotypes ◽  
Hegemonic Masculinity ◽  
Literary Representations ◽  
Masculine Identity ◽  
Theories Of Aging ◽  
Aging Studies ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Academic Discourses

This article explores representations of male aging in Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections (2001) by looking at theories of aging, pathology, and hegemonic masculinity. While, in general, academic discourses about aging tend to link old age to pathology, the focus on gender stereotypes adds another layer to the perception of aging in Franzen’s novel. The Corrections is constructed around an aged patriarch who is not only struck by the illnesses of old age but, more importantly, he keeps clinging to an idealized masculine identity he is no longer able to maintain as an old man. Drawing on the difficulties of identity construction concerning Aging Studies and the lack of what Gabriela Spector-Mersel defines as “masculinity scripts,” my article illustrates how literary representations can construct male losses as symptoms of a silent virus that appears to break out in the aged body. The article will show that these (lived) hegemonic concepts of masculinity establish the male as a dominant collective but simultaneously constitute the inevitable failure of the individual. Hegemonic masculinities then have a disabling impact on the old man as is mirrored in Franzen’s doomed protagonist who becomes the victim of his own concepts of masculinity.

Antagonistic pleiotropy and mutation accumulation influence human senescence and disease

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Antonio Rodríguez ◽  
Urko M. Marigorta ◽  
David A. Hughes ◽  
Nino Spataro ◽  
Elena Bosch ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mutation Accumulation ◽  
Antagonistic Pleiotropy

scholarly journals A test of evolutionary theories of aging

2002 ◽  
Vol 99 (22) ◽  
pp. 14286-14291 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. A. Hughes ◽  
J. A. Alipaz ◽  
J. M. Drnevich ◽  
R. M. Reynolds
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Theories ◽  
Theories Of Aging

scholarly journals A Tale of Two Concepts: Harmonizing the Free Radical and Antagonistic Pleiotropy Theories of Aging

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (10) ◽  
pp. 1003-1017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexey Golubev ◽  
Andrew D. Hanson ◽  
Vadim N. Gladyshev
Keyword(s):  
Free Radical ◽  
Antagonistic Pleiotropy ◽  
Theories Of Aging

scholarly journals Revamping the evolutionary theories of aging

2019 ◽  
Vol 55 ◽  
pp. 100947 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adiv A. Johnson ◽  
Maxim N. Shokhirev ◽  
Boris Shoshitaishvili
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Theories ◽  
Theories Of Aging

scholarly journals Computer simulations for biological aging and sexual reproduction

2001 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
DIETRICH STAUFFER ◽  
PAULO M.C. DE OLIVEIRA ◽  
SUZANA MOSS DE OLIVEIRA ◽  
THADEU J.P. PENNA ◽  
JORGE S. SÁ MARTINS
Keyword(s):  
Monte Carlo ◽  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Sexual Reproduction ◽  
Computer Simulations ◽  
Computer Model ◽  
Monte Carlo Methods ◽  
Mutation Accumulation ◽  
Biological Aging ◽  
Penna Model ◽  
Theory Of Aging

The sexual version of the Penna model of biological aging, simulated since 1996, is compared here with alternative forms of reproduction as well as with models not involving aging. In particular we want to check how sexual forms of life could have evolved and won over earlier asexual forms hundreds of million years ago. This computer model is based on the mutation-accumulation theory of aging, using bits-strings to represent the genome. Its population dynamics is studied by Monte Carlo methods.

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