Recruitment of reproductive features into other cell types may underlie extended lifespan in animals

In the sense that organisms existing today are connected through a chain of life - through their parents, grandparents and other ancestors - almost a billion years back to the first animals of the pre-Cambrian era, an animal's reproductive cells can be considered to be immortal. These germline cells generate their offspring's somatic cells - other cells involved in all aspects of growth, metabolism and behavior, which have a set lifespan - and new germline cells that continue on, generation after generation.

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<p><a href="http://www.physorg.com/news163599959.html">Recruitment of reproductive features into other cell types may underlie extended lifespan in animals</a></p> <p>In the sense that organisms existing today are connected through a chain of life - through their parents, grandparents and other ancestors - almost a billion years back to the first animals of the pre-Cambrian era, an animal's reproductive cells can be considered to be immortal. These germline cells generate their offspring's somatic cells - other cells involved in all aspects of growth, metabolism and behavior, which have a set lifespan - and new germline cells that continue on, generation after generation.</p>