Molecular evolution of animal aging

Comparative biology plays a crucial role in uncovering fundamental biological mechanisms and providing evolutionary models for their variation. This approach is particularly valuable for studying aging, given the remarkable diversity in aging trajectories across the tree of life. Many evolutionary theories of aging were proposed well before the discovery of the molecular mechanisms involved, and they remain largely theoretical. Moreover, the growing number of model organisms and the expanding array of experimental and theoretical approaches used to study aging have often remained compartmentalized. As a result, integrating these diverse insights into a unified framework has become increasingly important. As a step toward this goal, this field perspective outlines general biological mechanisms that help explain the variability in aging patterns and longevity across the animal kingdom.

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Publication Details

Journal
The EMBO Journal
Published
2026-02-27
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s44318-026-00725-z
Primary Topic
Genetics, Aging, and Longevity in Model Organisms
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Molecular evolution of animal aging

Emma C. Teeling, Jane Reznick, George A. Garinis, Daniel H. Nussey et al.
The EMBO Journal
Genetics, Aging, and Longevity in Model Organisms
article

Molecular evolution of animal aging

Emma C. Teeling, Jane Reznick, George A. Garinis, Daniel H. Nussey, Allison J. Bardin, Jan Philipp Junker, Helen M. Blau, Maximina H. Yun, Anne Brunet, Longhua Guo, Björn Schumacher, Eiji Hara, Andrei Seluanov, Michael Rera, Maria Mittelbrunn, Eric Gilson, Dario Riccardo Valenzano, Jing Ye, Vera Gorbunova, Fabrizio d’Adda di Fagagna
article en

Abstract

Comparative biology plays a crucial role in uncovering fundamental biological mechanisms and providing evolutionary models for their variation. This approach is particularly valuable for studying aging, given the remarkable diversity in aging trajectories across the tree of life. Many evolutionary theories of aging were proposed well before the discovery of the molecular mechanisms involved, and they remain largely theoretical. Moreover, the growing number of model organisms and the expanding array of experimental and theoretical approaches used to study aging have often remained compartmentalized. As a result, integrating these diverse insights into a unified framework has become increasingly important. As a step toward this goal, this field perspective outlines general biological mechanisms that help explain the variability in aging patterns and longevity across the animal kingdom.

The EMBO Journal
University College Dublin (IE), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (ES), University of Crete (GR), Inserm (FR), Université Paris Cité (FR), Max Delbrück Center (DE), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (FR), Ruijin Hospital (CN), University of Rochester Medical Center (US), Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nice (FR), FORTH Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (GR), IFOM (IT), Michigan Medicine (US), Institut de Recherche sur le Cancer et le Vieillissement de Nice (FR), German Centre for Cardiovascular Research (DE), Leibniz Institute on Aging - Fritz Lipmann Institute (FLI) (DE), Istituto di Genetica Molecolare (IT), Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (BG), Stanford Medicine (US), Unit of Functional and Adaptive Biology (FR), Cologne Excellence Cluster on Cellular Stress Responses in Aging Associated Diseases (DE), China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences (CN), Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa (ES), Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas Margarita Salas (ES), Génétique et biologie du développement (FR), University of Rochester (US), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (ES), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin (DE), Institut Curie (FR), Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas (GR), Stanford University (US), The University of Osaka (JP), University of Edinburgh (GB)
Pew Charitable Trusts, Glenn Foundation for Medical Research, Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Agence Nationale de la Recherche, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale, Technische Universität Dresden, Fondation ARC pour la Recherche sur le Cancer, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca sul Cancro, Zentrum für Regenerative Therapien Dresden, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, National Key Research and Development Program of China
Openalex Percentile: Top 42%
Genetics, Aging, and Longevity in Model Organisms
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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