

Self-Destructive Behavior in Cells May Hold Key to a Longer Life  - cwan
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/06/science/06cell.html?_r=1&ref=instapundit

======
trebor
Has anyone else spotted this contradiction?

Assertion:

    
    
      This strategy for survival, known as autophagy ("eating oneself"),
      evolved in our ancestors over two billion years ago.
      Today, all animals rely on it to endure famines, as
      do plants, fungi and single-cell protozoa.
    

Proof? (2 paragraphs down, after the more technical explanation of the need
for autophagy.)

    
    
      When the scientists engineered mice so they could not use
      their lysosomes at birth, the newborn mice almost immediately
      died of starvation.
    

If this evolved 2bn years ago, then how did our ancestors survive until it
evolved? By this point, the mice have already lost many individual cells; the
survival of smaller species/organisms would be infinitesimal once food ran
out, or even in the time spent between meals.

~~~
jonsen
I see no contradiction. It says _strategy_ for survival, not _necessity_.

Neither does it say that there are no contemporary organisms without these
autophagous mechanisms.

------
gommm
Very interesting. This seems like a good potential explanation for the effect
of Calorie Restriction Diet...

------
chrischen
So basically eat less and less healthy... live longer. That's awesome! This is
going to add a lot of momentum to the low calorie movement.

