Appetite for reproduction: dietary restriction, aging and the mammalian gonad

Roopa L Nalam^*¹^,2 , Scott D Pletcher^*³^,4^,5 and Martin M Matzuk^*¹^,2^,3^,6

¹Department of Pathology, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX 77030, USA

²Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX 77030, USA

³Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX 77030, USA

⁴Huffington Center on Aging, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX 77030, USA

⁵Programs in Cellular and Molecular Biology, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX 77030, USA

⁶Developmental Biology, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX 77030, USA

author email corresponding author email* Contributed equally

Journal of Biology 2008, 7:23doi:10.1186/jbiol84


Published:	16 September 2008

Abstract

The major physiologic theory of aging, the disposable soma theory, links dietary restriction (DR), also known as calorie or food restriction, to prolonged lifespan and makes specific predictions about the effects of aging and DR on reproduction. A recent study in BMC Biology profiling the effects of aging and DR on gonadal gene expression provides novel molecular evidence that has a significant impact on this theory of aging.