SYMMETRY. “More important than this lack of a clear germ line/soma distinction, however, is the fact that prokaryotes, protozoans, algae, and symmetrically dividing unicells, do not have clearly delineated age classes. In symmetrically dividing unicells, for example, individuals should not age because parent and offspring are phenotypically indistinguishable – it is impossible to determine old from young, and age is thus invisible to selection. By the same logic, aging should exist in asymmetrically reproducing organisms where aging parents are phenotypically distinct from offspring.”
http://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/the-evolution-of-aging-23651151
linkedin post 2022-06-29 05:12:48
Nigel Fleming
September 21, 2022