title: Open-ended question: is immortality exclusively inherent to the germline?--A mini-review.
abstract: All somatic cells are subject to aging. Germline links generations, and thus, pluripotent germ cells are considered potentially immortal. The current understanding how the germline escapes this otherwise inevitable phenomenon is outlined in this article.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biomedical Aging Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Innsbruck, Austria. guenter.lepperdinger@oeaw.ac.at
authors.forename: Günter
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lepperdinger
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016922:Cellular Senescence; D005854:Germ Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D039904:Pluripotent Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology