Senescence in Bacteria

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spuriousmonkey

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From science vol 300 no. 5627 p1920:

'Senescence in a Bacterium with asymmetric division.'
Ackermann et al.

They show that in bacteria with asymmetric divisions senescence is prevalent in only a subset of the offspring. Maybe specific subcellular localization of structures near the pole is related to this phenomenum.

Is asymmetric division than the evolutionary key to aging?
 
Is asymmetric division than the evolutionary key to aging
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Well it could be, but if our cells did not divide asymmetrically and specialize then wouldn’t we be blobs of goo?

by the way I can't seem to find that article are you sure it was #5627?
 
Originally posted by WellCookedFetus
Well it could be, but if our cells did not divide asymmetrically and specialize then wouldn’t we be blobs of goo?
Click to expand...
'
this is a very interesting comment, because it might indeed be true that longevity and differentiation are connected, but in an inverse relationship.

Maybe the great sacrifice that the eukaryotes and especially the multicellular eukaryotes had to make for their specialization was to give up eternal life. And does this mean that we have stumbled on some kind of principal barrier that will prevent the great hope for eternal life?

We might have all the stem cell technology we can think of, but it is all pointless because differentiation will prevent the ultimate goal.

Or can we have a continuous series of 'stem cell treatments' (a very vague term, because nothing of this sort exists at the moment), which will have to replace all or most of the older generations of differentiated cells. And this time after time. Will there be anything left of an individual after many of these theoretical treatments?
 
Even if we build new bodies for our self’s and new brains there is still the practical limit of memory storage and the physical limit of nothing lasting forever. No matter what nothing will last forever, decay and change are inevitable… in this universe that is: if there is some way of existing beyond the laws of physics and space/time let that be something for use to figure millions of years from now.
 
hydra

organisms like hydra are virtually immortal.

hydra can divide and form 2 adults and this can happen perpetually

but hydra are fairly complex eukaryotic organisms

maybe it has to do with sexual reproduction. there's a marsupial mouse that is essentially semelparous (unusual for a mammal). reproduction is very frenetic where they live one year, reproduce and die (males at least).

Cole's paradox?
 
yes hydra...forgot about that...

so senescence is not necessarily linked to differentiation as you said, unless of course hydra mastered the art of continuous regeneration. Not just in case of injury, but as a normal every day process. Does that make any sense?
 
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