What do Germ Cells Know that Somatic Cells Don ?
It can now be argued that, although the senescence of somatic cells in our bodies appears to be immutable, our germ-line cells (eggs and sperm) are, by definition, what gives sexually- reproducing species like ourselves their continuity over many hundreds of thousands of years. So it seems that our germ cells “know” something that our disposable somatic cells do not. Discovering the molecular basis for the immortality of germ-line cells and how their clocks can be reset through the process of fertilization and embryogenic development may well be crucial to our ultimate understanding of the aging process itself. [Of course, we know that both old eggs and old sperm (although sperm are always freshly made, we are speaking here of sperm produced by older males) do age statistically over time (as is well known to gynecologists/andrologists who specialize in the diagnosis of infertility), since older gametes do result in a higher rate of congenital defects among those that are successful, de
