Invertebrates can tell us something about senescence.
Senescence is a ubiquitous phenomenon, i.e., all vertebrates and invertebrates will ultimately manifest it. Any attempt to answer the question of adaptive significance of the aging process must take into account the universality of and change in the DNA molecule that governs, integrates, regulates and ensures the vitality of all organisms. With invertebrates and from the comparative viewpoint, there are examples of: 1) rapid senescence and sudden death; 2) gradual senescence with definite life span; 3) negligible senescence; 4) genetic influence on life span, mortality rates, and age-related diseases. Although these characteristics are ascribed to invertebrates and vertebrates, this need not force upon invertebrates the organization, structure and eventual features of vertebrate senescence. "Invertebrate gerontologists" can thus, freely delve into certain unique aspects of what may be the more primitive mechanisms of aging in invertebrates. In contrast, using the opposite strategy that is still problematic, i.e., linking invertebrate and vertebrate aging, seems to give us an approach to universality that might eventually reveal more readily obvious and homologous kinship.
Cooper
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Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles.
D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D005075:Biological Evolution; D006801:Humans; D007448:Invertebrates / Q000502:physiology*; D010802:Phylogeny; D010828:Physiology, Comparative