Reliability of electron transport in biological systems and the role of the oxygen free radicals in aging

Despite the phenotypic variety, the aging of all organisms follows rather simple universal quantitative laws. First, each species is characterized by the species-specific maximal life-span potential, which is inversely related to the basal oxygen consumption (the so-called “Rubner scaling relation”). Second, the growth of mortality rate with age follows the extremes statistics. Usually, it is the so-called Gompertz law of mortality that has been confirmed both for people and for other mammals, flies, mollusks, etc. Free-radical hypothesis of aging explains the Rubner relation but it cannot explain the exponential growth of mortality with age. Against this background, the paper offers a framework of a universal aging theory based on the concept that all biological structures perform their functions with genetically limited reliability. It shows that the theory is, generally, capable to piece together and explain all quantitative mechanisms of aging.