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DNA damage theory of aging and sex

Biology Asked on July 26, 2020

If aging is due to accumulation of damages in DNA, then shouldn’t the DNA in gametes also be damaged and so the next generation should be borne old! How does gametes avoid this DNA damage accumulation?

One Answer

I've answered a related question, which was wondering why older people get more cancer from accumulated DNA damage and yet their children aren't immediately susceptible to it, here:

https://medicalsciences.stackexchange.com/questions/19915/why-do-age-related-dna-transcription-errors-not-manifest-in-children-as-readily/

Quoting from my answer there:

...a parent does not pass on all their mutations in all their cells, they pass on just one, which need not have any deleterious mutations at all, even if the parent has cancer themselves in some other part of the body.

If that one cell is defective in some way, it is less likely to be involved in creation of a successful pregnancy, and may lead to miscarriage. Therefore, the probabilistic process of reproduction tends to result in offspring from selection of healthier gametes.

There are in fact mutations that accumulate in gametes, but if any of those mutations are very serious, they are unlikely to support development of an entire new organism, and they are also relatively few. The burden of age on the genome is spread over all the cells in a body, and worst in types of cells that divide the most, when errors are most likely to occur.

Answered by Bryan Krause on July 26, 2020

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