Goldsmith Theodore C
Azinet LLC, Annapolis, USA.
Biochemistry (Mosc). 2022 Dec;87(12):1405-1412. doi: 10.1134/S000629792212001X.
As recently as in 2002 gerontologists widely thought that an aging program that purposely caused aging in mammals was impossible and therefore scientifically ridiculous because it violated widely accepted concepts regarding the nature of the evolution process. However, a number of modern evolutionary mechanics concepts such as group selection and evolvability suggest that an individually adverse trait like aging can evolve if it creates an advantage (reduced probability of extinction) for a population. Genetics discoveries suggest that aging creates multiple population advantages and, therefore, aging programs that purposely cause and regulate aging evolved in mammals. This led to various concepts regarding the nature of the program. One such concept is that aging is a completely genetically specified function of age, essentially a biological clock. However, this article presents evidence and theoretical basis for the idea that the programmed aging function is controlled by an adaptive mechanism that can sense local or temporary conditions that affect the optimum aging function and adjust it to compensate for those conditions. This issue is important for medical research because the sensing mechanisms and associated signaling provide additional points at which intervention in the aging process and associated highly age-related diseases could be attempted.
就在2002年，老年医学专家还普遍认为，在哺乳动物中故意引发衰老的衰老程序是不可能存在的，因此从科学角度来看是荒谬的，因为它违背了关于进化过程本质的广泛接受的概念。然而，一些现代进化力学概念，如群体选择和可进化性，表明像衰老这样对个体不利的特征如果能为种群创造优势（降低灭绝概率），就可能进化。遗传学发现表明，衰老为种群带来多种优势，因此，在哺乳动物中存在故意引发和调节衰老的衰老程序。这引发了关于该程序本质的各种概念。其中一个概念是，衰老完全是由基因决定的年龄函数，本质上是一个生物钟。然而，本文为以下观点提供了证据和理论基础：程序性衰老功能由一种适应性机制控制，该机制能够感知影响最佳衰老功能的局部或临时条件，并对其进行调整以补偿这些条件。这个问题对医学研究很重要，因为传感机制和相关信号提供了额外的切入点，可以尝试在这些点干预衰老过程以及与之高度相关的疾病。
