Doug, Here are 500 words in memory of Catt:
All animals age and die, ...except for those lacking a microbiome. Prokaryote, and simple Eukaryotes do not age. However, they are, also, not very advanced. For an animal to evolve requires incorporation of one or more additional species, usually into a microbiome.
Evolution and devolution of higher species can readily be accomplished through the addition or subtraction of commensal bacteria in very early life. The explosion of new species in the Cambrian Period started with prokaryote and eukaryote combining as algae.
There are ponds in Central America were every present fish species shares a red belly and a blue tail. These are completely separate fish species …yet each share the external color characteristics of the fish in the pond. Pond specific colonizing bacteria are the “something in the water” causing this.
The great apes share close to 99% of the same DNA …yet humans are very different from the rest. Gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos have dozens of species of bacteria colonizing their guts, while humans can have hundreds or even a thousand different commensal bacteria species.
Something, other than the genes, bears responsibility for the differences between primates.
As noted above, the process of evolution is triggered by microbiota becoming part of a larger “Combined Organism.” These bacteria, etc. then take on the role of small chemical factories, producing neurotransmitters, chemical intermediates and other useful products. In exchange, they enjoy food and protection.
Fish often gain increased longevity from this. The common bass that reaches 20 pounds is eight to twelve years old, whereas, the mean lifespan of an adult bass is only four years. Non-game fish, such as, the Buffalo fish can live for a hundred years. Both of these fish eat their fry. This can only work because fish do not have acid stomachs. If a fry is eaten by an adult, it dies and is digested. However, bacteria living within the gut of the young fish volunteer to colonize the gut of the adult and thereby renew that microbiome. The annual renewal of the fish microbiome results in a longer lifespan for the fish.
Aging is a subset of the cooperation between animal and microbiome. In aging, certain commensal bacteria eventually become parasitic and will uptake any and all available amino acids. The animal dies when lack of nutrition reaches a certain level.
Humans have mechanisms to resist starvation and therefore suffer a long decline before death.(C) Patents are pending!
Merry Christmas, Doug!
