Life prolongation with dietary restriction: protection of genome and core metabolism and the role of glycosylation.

Life prolongation with dietary restriction can be found in much of the animal kingdom and thus is a phenomenon that is evolutionarily conserved. We propose that one benefit of this is protection of the genome at lower dietary intake, perhaps by reduction of glycosylation related alterations and retardation of age related impairment of DNA repair. Dietary restriction is inferred to maintain a major portion of metabolism in central pathways, since additional intake can be manifest by changes in metabolism, weight gain, and (presumably) a higher incidence of diseases which may interfere with reproductive ability.