Aging as an optimization between cellular maintenance requirements and evolutionary constraints.

Abstract

During the last decade, our understanding of the molecular mechanisms regulating the cellular environment has made significant advances. With the new dynamical description of the functionalities of the cell, several processes known to play a crucial role in the onset of aging such as cell senescence, the increase of ROS level and telomere shortening appear to be a consequence of the disruption of a systemic dynamical equilibrium established within the cellular environment. In this short review, I discuss how these new features provide us with a way to improve the current evolutionary theory of aging and help to clarify the role played by aging within the context of the evolution.