Old Centrioles Make Old Bodies

The paradox of organismal aging in the face of continuous cellular turnover remains a central question in biology. This article proposes a novel, integrative hypothesis: the non-renewed, asymmetrically inherited mother centriole in adult stem cells serves as a cumulative damage sensor and a primary driver of aging. I synthesize evidence to formulate the Centriolar Damage Accumulation Theory of Aging (CDATA). The theory posits that the biophysically stable mother centriole irreversibly accrues molecular damage (oxidative modifications, protein aggregates, loss of appendage proteins) over a lifetime. This "centriolar aging" impairs its core functions: templating the primary cilium (disrupting niche signaling)…