Parker, J.D.

What are social insects telling us about aging?

Research on aging in social insects has progressed much more than has been generally acknowledged. Here I review what I think are the four greatest contributions of social insect work to the field of aging research with the hope of highlighting the truly exciting discoveries being made. These include the reversal of the fecundity / lifespan and size / lifespan trade-offs due to the evolution of sociality, that social environment can reverse the effects of aging, the contribution of social insect work to the overturning of the free radical theory of aging, and the discovery of vitellogenin as an important protein for longevity. All of these discoveries have important ramifications for human and mammalian aging.

Open access, licensed under CC BY 4.0. © 2010 The Author(s).

Aging, ant, Formicidae, bee, free radical theory, longevity, social insects, vitellogenin, review.