ReviewBiochimica et biophysica acta2009
Integrating evolutionary and molecular genetics of aging.
Review in Biochimica et biophysica acta, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 49 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
49 citing papers in PubMed, 122 citations in OpenAlex.
- Histological aging signatures for monitoring tissue-specific aging and disease.Nature medicine · 2026Article
- Progranulin genetic variant rs5848 displays ancestry-specific associations with Alzheimer's disease.Human genomics · 2026Article
- Morphological features of the domestic house cricket (Acheta domesticus) for translational aging studies.GeroScience · 2025Article
- Anthocyanin-Binding Affinity and Non-Covalent Interactions with IIS-Pathway-Related Protein Through Molecular Docking.Current issues in molecular biology · 2025Article
- Circadian system and aging: where both times interact.Frontiers in aging · 2025Review
- Interactive effects of developmental and adult nutrition on lifespan and fecundity in a genetically diverse Drosophila population.PloS one · 2025Article
- Microbes are potential key players in the evolution of life histories and aging inEcology and evolution · 2023Article
- Investment Trade-Off between Mating Behavior and Tonic Immobility in the Sweetpotato WeevilInsects · 2023Article
- Comparative genomics of mortal and immortal cnidarians unveils novel keys behind rejuvenation.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2022Article
- The selection force weakens with age because ageing evolves and not vice versa.Nature communications · 2022Article
- Semelparous Death as one Element of Iteroparous Aging Gone Large.Frontiers in genetics · 2022Article
- Fundamental Clock of Biological Aging: Convergence of Molecular, Neurodegenerative, Cognitive and Psychiatric Pathways: Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics Meet Psychology.International journal of molecular sciences · 2021Review
- Medawar and Hamilton on the selective forces in the evolution of ageing.History and philosophy of the life sciences · 2021Article
- Modeling aging and its impact on cellular function and organismal behavior.Experimental gerontology · 2021Review
- The plasticity of lifespan in social insects.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2021Review
- Reproductive Suicide: Similar Mechanisms of Aging inFrontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2021Article
- Speciation and the developmental alarm clock.eLife · 2020Review
- Aging without inflammaging: lesson fromAging · 2020Article
- Sex-Specific Responses of Life Span and Fitness to Variation in Developmental Versus Adult Diets in Drosophila melanogaster.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2020Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Aging or senescence is an age-dependent decline in physiological function, demographically manifest as decreased survival and fecundity with increasing age. Since aging is disadvantageous it should not evolve by natural selection. So why do organisms age and die? In the 1940s and 1950s evolutionary geneticists resolved this paradox by positing that aging evolves because selection is inefficient at maintaining function late in life. By the 1980s and 1990s this evolutionary theory of aging had received firm empirical support, but little was known about the mechanisms of aging. Around the same time biologists began to apply the tools of molecular genetics to aging and successfully identified mutations that affect longevity. Today, the molecular genetics of aging is a burgeoning field, but progress in evolutionary genetics of aging has largely stalled. Here we argue that some of the most exciting and unresolved questions about aging require an integration of molecular and evolutionary approaches. Is aging a universal process? Why do species age at different rates? Are the mechanisms of aging conserved or lineage-specific? Are longevity genes identified in the laboratory under selection in natural populations? What is the genetic basis of plasticity in aging in response to environmental cues and is this plasticity adaptive? What are the mechanisms underlying trade-offs between early fitness traits and life span? To answer these questions evolutionary biologists must adopt the tools of molecular biology, while molecular biologists must put their experiments into an evolutionary framework. The time is ripe for a synthesis of molecular biogerontology and the evolutionary biology of aging.
Indexed as
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.