The biology of aging

Name

Professor

Subject

The Biology of Aging

Introduction

Aging is an intricate multifactorial process which generally influence by the genes and the environment (Arking 11 . Although both physiological and molecular basis of aging have not yet fully understood , the identified genetic factors in the near future may shed light on the underlying mechanism in aging . The physiological and biological bases of aging measurements revealed the prevalent changes brought by the complex processes (Arking 11 . These changes in the tissue , molecular and cellular organizations affect the entire organ

system of an animal . Most of these changes involve molecular mechanisms that cause cellular damage which in turn can adversely affect the individual . Hence , aging is generally described as a sequence of time-dependent changes which increase the probability of death as the organism gains progress in age (Macieira-Coelho 3 . On the other hand death is a prominent characteristic of biological aging . The increasing tendency for death is largely imparted by the genes or gerontogenes which gave different life span for various animal species (Arking 5 Further , life threatening factors from the environments like predation and diseases aggravate the fatality rate of the immortal organism . Thus the main effect of genes on aging is not merely on the aging attributes rather it is a non-adaptive process wherein the gerontogenes may either have no effect on the fitness of the organism or may probably give benefits only at the early stage of life . In addition , genes are not chosen by the nature to speed up...