For decades, a vast majority of biogerontologists assumed that aging is not and cannot be an adaptation. In recent years, however, several authors opposed this predominant view and repeatedly suggested that not only is aging an adaptation but that it is the result of a specific aging program. This issue almost instantaneously became somewhat controversial and many important authors produced substantial works refuting the notion of the aging program. In this article we review the current state of the debate and list the most important arguments proposed by both sides. Furthermore, although classical interpretations of the evolution of aging are in sharp contrast with the idea of programmed aging, we suggest that the truth might in fact very well lie somewhere in between. We also propose our own interpretation which states that although aging is in essence inevitable and results from damage accumulation rather than from a specific program, the actual rate of aging in nature may still be adaptive to some extent.

Department of Pathological Physiology Faculty of Medicine Masaryk University Kamenice 5 Building A18 625 00 Brno Czech Republic

Research Centre for Toxic Compounds in the Environment Faculty of Science Masaryk University Kamenice 5 Building A29 625 00 Brno Czech Republic

Citace poskytuje Crossref.org

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