Computer model creates new perspective on old age

Sep 27, 2011 07:07 GMT  ·  By
Old age may be nothing more than an evolutionary adaptation to changing environments
   Old age may be nothing more than an evolutionary adaptation to changing environments

Investigators at the University of Sao Paolo, in Brazil, led by expert André Martins, say that a new computer simulation they conducted on the process of human aging revealed that the phenomenon has striking resemblances to an evolutionary adaptation.

The reason behind this is very simple, even though a little difficult to accept for individual members of the species. What the work is suggesting is that changes in our species' environment may be causing it to adopt a higher turnover rates.

While this may not be very beneficial to individuals – who die of old age, long after childbearing years are over – it is of great use to the species as a whole. The latter learns how to adapt to the environment, and increases its chances of survival.

Details of the new scientific investigation were published in this week's issue of the peer-reviewed scientific journal PLoS ONE, which is edited by the Public Library of Science. In the paper, Martins provides excellent insight into the motivations behind this adaptation.

He explains that geneticists will find it very easy to introduce this notion into their understanding of why the human genome is set up the way it is. One thing that may favor this is the fact that the rate at which people age is inscribed in their genetic code.

Interestingly enough, some of our genetic material has remained exactly the same as it was in distant ancestors, who lived hundreds of millions of years ago. These highly-conserved, ancient genes may play a role in triggering old age as an evolutionary response to changing environments.

There are however certain aspects of the aging process that puzzle geneticists, such as for example how it is that the body appears to be capable of slowing down its aging rate at will. Additionally, history has demonstrated that harsh conditions, such as hunger, delay the aging process even further.

What is remarkable about the latter feat is that these are precisely the times when the body's repair and maintenance systems are called upon the most, while the largest amounts of resources are spent to enable healing, Science Blog reports.

The new computer simulations Martins and his team conducted may have significant implications for the field of evolutionary biology, as they may provide scientists with the push to start investigating old age from a completely different perspective.

It could be that future studies will demonstrate senescence to be nothing more than an evolutionary adaptation to the environment, which became so beneficial that it was preserved through natural selection over millions of years.