The Heumann-Hotzel model for aging revisited

Abstract

Since its proposition in 1995, the Heumann-Hotzel model has remained as an obscure model of biological aging. The main arguments used against it were its apparent inability to describe populations with many age intervals and its failure to prevent a population extinction when only deleterious mutations are present. We find that with a simple and minor change in the model these difficulties can be surmounted. Our numerical simulations show a plethora of interesting features: the catastrophic senescence, the Gompertz law and that postponing the reproduction increases the survival probability, as has already been experimentally confirmed for the Drosophila fly.