Growing old may come with more aches and pains, but new research suggests that there's a bigger picture to consider: that by the time we get older, we may actually be helping our species evolve.
Aging, once thought to be an inevitable consequence of living in a chaotic world, is now considered a mystery. For example, there are species that barely age. An important question, then, is aging a by-product of biology or something with evolutionary advantages.
The new study is based on a computer model developed by a team at the Hun-Ren Ecological Research Center in Hungary, which shows that, like other traits, aging can be actively selected.
In recent years, scientists have studied the inevitability of aging and the physical deterioration associated with it (technically called senescence). The model suggests that in some cases, it may be beneficial for a species.
E[GF]F6[GF]Ars Szathmáry, an evolutionary biologist from the Hun-REN Center for Ecological Research, said: "If aging can be chosen, then aging can play an evolutionary role. Our goal is to reveal that choice. ”
This situation requires strong directional selection, i.e., evolutionary pressures (such as predators or environmental changes) to steer traits in a consistent direction;and important kinship selection, with the help of relatives, genes have a higher chance of being passed on.
"For example, aging and dying in a changing environment may be more beneficial to individuals because it reduces competition, which hinders the survival and reproduction of more adaptable offspring with better genetic makeup," says evolutionary biologist E[GF]F6[GF]Ars Szathmáry. ”
In other words, natural aging and death leave room for a new generation that may have a better genetic mix.
The researchers also propose that more generations of organisms with strong altruism survive the long aging process, which would be favored by kinship selection. In other words, those who help their relatives create a new generation whose long-term aging genes are passed down through them more often.
Although, humans as a species may be obsessed with stopping aging, it seems that aging plays an important role in evolutionary dominance – a role that experts are still trying to explore and understand.
Evolutionary biologist E[GF]F6[GF]Ars Szathmáry said: "The classical theory of non-adaptive aging cannot explain all the patterns of aging in nature, which has been accepted in the evolutionary biology community, which means that the explanation of aging is once again an open question." ”
The study was published in the journal BMC Biology.
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