Molecular evolution of animal aging

TL;DR

This paper explores how evolution shapes aging and longevity differences across animals.

Contribution

It provides a unified framework integrating diverse insights on aging mechanisms and evolutionary theories.

Findings

Evolutionary theories of aging remain largely theoretical without molecular mechanisms.

Comparative biology reveals variability in aging patterns across species.

A multi-angle view helps explain differences in longevity across animals and environments.

Abstract

Comparative biology plays a crucial role in uncovering fundamental biological mechanisms and providing evolutionary models for their variation. This approach is particularly valuable for studying aging, given the remarkable diversity in aging trajectories across the tree of life. Many evolutionary theories of aging were proposed well before the discovery of the molecular mechanisms involved, and they remain largely theoretical. Moreover, the growing number of model organisms and the expanding array of experimental and theoretical approaches used to study aging have often remained compartmentalized. As a result, integrating these diverse insights into a unified framework has become increasingly important. As a step toward this goal, this field perspective outlines general biological mechanisms that help explain the variability in aging patterns and longevity across the animal kingdom.

This field perspective explores the impact of evolution on aging and offers a multi-angle view on longevity variation across animals and environments.

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