Randomness, redundancy and repair: roles and relevance to biological aging.

In this paper, some of the key findings of the last decade will briefly be surveyed and, where possible, be related to two separate computer simulation models which have been designed to determine the validity of certain widely accepted dogmas and to define the limits and restrictions imposed by attrition of or ambiguity of information retrieval from information storage systems. It is known: (1) that the idealized rectangular survival curve in an "ideal" environment is an extrapolation that is inconsistent with reasonable primary assumptions; (2) that loss of redundant copies of functional "housekeeping" genes may well be a dominant contributor to human senescence; and (3) that redundancy, particularly of informational storage, not only confers greater stability on an organism in dealing with stochastic or programmed age changes, but that it also provides a means through which a more optimized use of informational storage space may be attained.