SCI :AGING/Plants 2

Twink (neptune@mars.superlink.net)
Sat, 3 Jan 1998 09:26:01 -0500 (EST)


At 05:07 PM 1/2/98 -0800, Tony Benjamin Csoka <csoka@itsa.ucsf.edu> wrote:
>>I'm not sure about animals living that long, but I've heard of certain
>>plants
>>that do, but their lifestyle is clonal -- asexually reproductive. So,
>>it's hard to
>>draw a line between generations. How many philodendrons might have a
>>similar stab at eternity?
>
>It's not just clonally reproducing plants that live that long. For
>example the giant sequoia trees in California which can be up to 300 ft
>tall and 40 ft in diameter, can live up to 2000 years!

So I've heard, but I was thinking of that scrawny bush whose name escapes
me. It's rumored to live for about 10,000 years under ideal conditions.

>It that just because of antioxidants?

I don't know. I've only heard that long lived plants have higher amounts of
antioxidants. I'm sure there are other factors, but make their antioxidants
levels more average and I bet they would not live as long.

Regardless, it would be nice to study such long lived organisms to see if
any of their strategies can be applied to humans. My goal, after all, is not
to argue ad nauseam on this list about aging, but to actually eradicate it.

Daniel Ust