Why do we die after some age?. Why does the DNA has mechanism of cell aging and killing itself?

Question

Why do we die after certain age, since our DNA has the mechanism of aging our cells, after certain time they die. Why was the natural selection was not selfish enough to overcome this mechanism and make the species immortal by changing its DNA to support infinite cell age?

Answer 1

Hmmm. I think your interpretation is skewed. Apoptosis (programmed cell death) is a mechanism to prevent further growth (not death). Eventually, anything that stops to grow wears down (and dies). Our bodies continue to produce many new cells throughout our lifetime (ex. skin cells) but some (ex. nerve and muscle tissue of the heart) are not produced again after they 'die' (hence stem cell research). Oh, to tie that back in to your original question, DNA does control apoptosis... however, when those genes containing that DNA malfunction (as in many types of cancer), cells may continue to grow and divide (to produce more cells) which then form tumors -- so, I personally hope that this mechanism doesn't change!

Answer 2

this is a very nice question but it shouldnt be asked this way it should be as why the nature of selection havent created the right sequence for contineuously regenerating all of ourbody cells like our nerve cells and muscle cells coz these are the cells that live our whole life and do not regenerate and thats why they get old and weak and start dieing
and there r so many researches on this main subject the right DNA sequence for immortality is almost imposible to get to because off all the biological reactions that we have to consider while and remambering the fact that our brain cells contain allot of informations like memories and skills so regenerating them means cleaning all the memories and skills a person has earned in the past years
so the right answer is that all the mutations and evolution since the begining of life on earth until now has not reached the right sequence of genes for immortality
so we die not because there is a program that is set to kill us after sometime but because there is no program to keep us alive
and the DNA sequence for cell death is a whole different subject its totally a physiological process for our benifitial like when the baby frogs looose their tail...............
but there is no certain DNA sequence that makes ur die after a while

Answer 3

All "mechanisms causing death" and "body wearing out" arguments fail to address the issue of why our lifespan is set to about 85 and not 185 or 850. Different animals, even ones that weight about the same, have difference average lifespans. Horses, for instance, weigh more than us but only live 25 years or so. Parrots can outlive us.

So "Why do we live to X years old?" is a better question.

Answer 4

THe people above are either idiots or are not really addressing your question.

We die as individuals because it encourages diversity amonst humans. Keeps humanity fresh. Firstly, species evovle more quickly the shorter each creature's lifespan is. Also, if we lived to be much older we would have to seriously curtail our reproduction or we would run out of resources to live comfortably. By constantly renewing our poulation with different people it is less likely that some illness will wipe us all out. Because whatever weakness that ilness targets will be shared by a smaller percentage of the population if we are more diverse. If we were all very similar to each other then one bad flu could kill us all.

Answer 5

As soon as we are born we begin to die. We lose 10,000 brain cells a day and our heart beats 24/7 for our entire lives so its understandable that eventually it has to stop. If you flexed your bicep every 2 seconds for your entire life eventually youd just get tired and start slowing down and inevitably stop... same with your heart and just about every other organ in your body. Everything that lives will die. Its all part of the life cycles of earth.

Answer 6

There are several enviromental factors that eventually prevent infinite cellular reproduction. While I am not a biologist I have heard that acidity in the body leads to errors in the genetic code. Hence leading to aging and desease. Oxidation also inhibits cellular reproduction. When free radicals of oxygen combines with complex chemicals in our body they change the nature of said chemical. Radiation also leads to changes in the genetic code eventually leading to aging and desease. I also believe evolution has not overcame these factors to limit lifespan and diversify the species.

Answer 7

Haven't your heard the statement"Everything good must die?"
Everything dies after awhile, if we had an infinite cell age would you really want to live that way? Be immortal?

Answer 8

actually we have found a way to increase our life span throgh genetic engineering. According to an experiment, a mouse who only lives for 2 years lived for 7 years, imagine what would be the effect on us! But, such an experiment has not been permitted to be performed on a human.

Answer 9

we die of old age because the telomeres that are on the end of each chromosome break off a little bit every time a cell divides. when the entire telomere breaks off, the cell dies. when all of the cells die, we die.

Answer 10

I believe, originally, God created us to be able to live forever (in this body). But because man sinned (and before he could eat from the tree of life, which would have made him immortal), his days were limited. This sin also effected the rest of God's creation, because God had put man in charge, so what happened to him, happened to everything.