Meeting Abstract

S2.1  Monday, Jan. 4  Comparative Biology of Aging in the 21st Century AUSTAD, Steven N; Univ, of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio austad@uthscsa.edu

Laboratory models have suggested a link between metabolism and life span in vertebrates, and it is well known that the evolution of specific life histories can be driven by metabolic factors. However, there is little known regarding how the adoption of specific life history strategies can shape aging and life span in populations facing different energetic demands from either a theoretical or a mechanistic viewpoint but significant insight can be gained by using a comparative approach. Comparative biology plays several roles in our understanding of the virtually ubiquitous phenomenon of aging in animals. First, it provides a critical evaluation of broad hypotheses concerning the evolutionary forces underlying the modulation of aging rate. Second, it suggests mechanistic hypotheses about processes of aging. Third, it illuminates particularly informative species to be interrogated about potentially novel aging mechanisms. Although comparative biology has played a significant role in aging research for more than a century, the new comparative biology of aging is poised to dwarf those earlier contributions, because: (1) we have much better information on the comparative longevity of a growing array of species, (2) new cellular and molecular techniques for investigating novel species are in place and more are being continual generated, (3) molecular systematics and new statistical techniques have provided helpful analytical tools for comparative biology, and (4) the dramatic acceleration in DNA sequencing technology is providing us with new tools for a comparative genomic approach to understanding aging.