Congress of The Japanese Biochemical Society, Oct. 2003.

 Symposium 2S32　
Recent aspects of aging research

(October 16 (Thu),　14:00 〜 16:30,　Room D (303))

2S32-1 An overview and evaluation of state-of-the art biological aging research
○Sataro Goto (Fac. Pharmaceutic. Sci., Toho Univ.)　

2S32-2 Aging and telomere shortening
○Toshinori Ide (Hiroshima Univ. Sch. Med.)　

2S32-3 Nutrition and cellular senescence: Proliferation and exhaustion of beta cells from fat-induced diabetic mice
○Yasuo Kagawa, Hideyuki Sone, Yoshiko Yanagisawa (High Tech. Res. Center, Kagawa Nutr. Univ.)　

2S32-4 Cellular senescence as a physiological response to stresses
○Fuyuki Ishikawa (Kyoto Univ. Grad. Sch. Biostudies)　

2S32-5 How many years plants can live?
○Eizi Suzuki (Fac. Sci., Kagoshima Univ.)　

2S32-6 Aging in Proliferative and Non-proliferative Cells
Shuichi Takano, ○Shoji Ohkuma (Department of Pharmaceutical Biology, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kanazawa University)　［714］

 

How many years plants can live?

Eizi Suzuki, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences,Faculty of Science, Kagoshima University, Kagoshima 890-0065  Japan

Some conifer trees can live nearly 5000 years though animals do only 150 years. Why the difference occurs?  Dead cells compose the most part of tree body, though living cells do in animals.  The longest lifespan of cells in trees, and animals are about 30, and 150 years, respectively. In this point of view, it may be said that animals can live longer than trees though some cells in palm can live as long as animals. The longevity of trees are not related with the lifespan of cells.  Plants can live much longer than 5000 years if it is propageted vegetatively.  Meristem of plants will not be aged, it can live forever. It is because the sexual and vegetative organs are made in the same meristem in plants, though in different ones in animals.  Then the cloning is very easy in plants.   Most long living trees are conifers, which are more primitive group than angiosperm trees.  The environment in the Mesozoic when the conifers dominated might be suitable for long living plants than the Cenozoic when the angiosperms dominated.
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Right side is Pacifico Yokohama,