•In its most basic form
this theory holds that aging is not just the result of accumulation of damage, as many of the aforementioned
theories do, but is the result of some generalized kind of program
that unfolds through life from
conception to death. This is a
relatively old concept based on evolutionary
arguments, but one with strong new supporting evidence.
•The emerging concept
is that hundreds of genes are
involved in what we call
aging, and that there is one or several master programs according to which these genes are switched on and off through
a lifetime in an intricate
pattern to produce early growth, maturation and, finally, assured death.
•Cellular DNA and
RNA mutational damage accumulates stochastically and is an essential contributor to the aging program.
•Epigenomics provides a general framework for explaining aging as a programmed phenomenon. Epigenetics is concerned with
both heritable and
non-heritable changes in gene expression and activity and also stable, long-term alterations in the gene transcriptional
potential of a cell.
•