Key points from article :
The potential to develop treatments for aging depends on the fundamental process of growing old.
A common approach holds that most cells are barely damaged, while a small fraction of cells are significantly damaged.
Using a novel approach from physics, researchers measured the gene activity and compared cells from old and young subjects.
Discovering old cells lost significant coordination levels compared to young cells.
To test the consistency, they analyzed data among different organisms, different cell types.
"In biology it is very difficult to achieve consistent results" - Dr. Orr Levy, lead author.
Findings support the theory that random damage disrupts the ability of genes to coordinate (resulting in a decrease in tissue function).
If the same level of coordination reduction between genes is indeed a leading cause for aging phenomena, there may be a need to change course in current efforts to develop aging treatments.
Research by Bar Ilan University published in Nature metabolism.
