X-Message-Number: 26239
Date: Tue, 24 May 2005 09:40:40 -0400
From: Thomas Donaldson <>
Subject: To Mike99 re. evolution of aging

To Mike99:

The problem with the notion that deterioration of our genes explains our
aging is very simple. There is no special reason why our gene repair
systems, or genes themselves, might not become more resistant to 
damage. In animals (bacteria, actually) living in nuclear reactors
we see exactly that: they have duplicates of their genes, so that
repair uses a majority vote to repair all of the genes. (No, that's
not perfect, but it makes them much more resistant to radiation than
we are or even normal bacteria are).

I'm not at all the originator of a standard biological theory of how
aging evolves, but you can look at the very first paper on that
subject by GC Williams, "Pleiotropy, natural selection, and the
evolution of senescence", EVOLUTION 11(1957) 398-411. I hope that
it's now on the net but haven't checked that myself. I would add
that others have produced math based on Williams' original idea,
and it now looks pretty firm. 

           Best wishes and long long life to all,

                  Thomas Donaldson

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