Re: Study details genetic basis of aging

hal@finney.org
Sat, 28 Aug 1999 09:49:05 -0700

The gene chip sounds cool, but I was concerned about the leap from the data to the interpretation in this study. The fact that some genes become less active with aging does not imply that the inactivity of those genes is what causes aging. This inactivity might be an effect of aging rather than a cause, like the lessened efficiency of many of the cell's systems.

The mere fact that some part of the cellular machinery, even genetic machinery, becomes less active in aged cells does not necessarily mean that this is what is causing aging. It could be that damage accumulates to many cellular systems which cause them not to work as well as they did when the cell was young.

Hal