A link to the paper covering details of membrane pacemaker theory of aging

 

More than 100 years ago, Max Rubner combined the fact that both metabolic rate and longevity of mammals varies with body size to calculate that "life energy potential" (lifetime energy turnover per kilogram) was relatively constant. This calculation linked longevity to aerobic metabolism which in turn led to the "rate-of-living" and ultimately the "oxidative stress" theories of aging. However, the link between metabolic rate and longevity is imperfect. Although unknown in Rubner's time, one aspect of body composition of mammals also varies with body size, namely the fatty acid composition of membranes. Fatty acids vary dramatically in their susceptibility to peroxidation and the products of lipid peroxidation are very powerful reactive molecules that damage other cellular molecules. The "membrane pacemaker" modification of the "oxidative stress" theory of aging proposes that fatty acid composition of membranes, via its influence on peroxidation of lipids, is an important determinant of lifespan (and a link between metabolism and longevity). The relationship between membrane fatty acid composition and longevity is discussed for (1) mammals of different body size, (2) birds of different body size, (3) mammals and birds that are exceptionally long-living for their size, (4) strains of mice that vary in longevity, (5) calorie-restriction extension of longevity in rodents, (6) differences in longevity between queen and worker honeybees, and (7) variation in longevity among humans. Most of these comparisons support an important role for membrane fatty acid composition in the determination of longevity. It is apparent that membrane composition is regulated for each species. Provided the diet is not deficient in polyunsaturated fat, it has minimal influence on a species' membrane fatty acid composition and likely also on it's maximum longevity. The exceptional longevity of Homo sapiens combined with the limited knowledge of the fatty acid composition of human tissues support the potential importance of mitochondrial membranes in determination of longevity.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/51113341_Metabolism_and_longevity_Is_there_a_role_for_membrane_fatty_acids

IS AGING PROGRAMMED? Aubrey de Grey vs. Yuri Deigin debate at Vitalist B...

comment: one thing is that parasites, diseases, germline mutations accumulate with age, fighting all of these is easiest by killing organism, that is in addition to increased evolvability. Also, the exceptions to the free radical theory of aging were explained away with the membrane pacemaker theory of aging, wherein membrane resilience determines rate of damage accumulation. Evolution determines membrane composition, during Calorie Restriction and similar interventions organism even alters membrane composition in a controlled manner increasing lifespan drastically.

In organisms like insects same genome different epigenetic regulation allows 10x--100x lifespan difference between queen and workers. But even here, it was believed queens of some species might be immortal, but for whatever reason it was found that sequential replacement with clones was easier for nature than actual immortality, the longest lasting queens last like 30 years ageless iirc, with extreme reproduction.

Increasing membrane unsaturation with aging and longevity

It has now been documented that there is an age-associated increase in membrane PI and lipoxidation-derived molecular damage (see Table ​Table1).1). In general, PI increases during aging in an organ-dependent way.  -http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3865700/

As seen on the above quote it seems that membranes peroxidation index tends to become less favorable with the passage of time, at least in some organisms.   Given that differences in membrane peroxidation index have been associated with differences in lifespan between species and within species this suggest it may be causal.

In the following we see further evidence:

The results showed significantly lower PI and lipoxidation-derived protein damage in brain and spleen from exceptionally old animals when compared to old specimens, and in a range analogous to adult animals. Therefore, low susceptibility to lipid peroxidation and maintenance of adult-like molecular lipoxidative damage could be key factors for longevity achievement.-http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3865700/

 The animals that exhibited most vigorous long term survival seemed to have lower PI similar to younger adults.   While the authors suggest it may be a key to longevity, I would say it may also be a key to indefinite longevity.   It may or may not be the case that if PI is lowered enough the existing biological maintenance and repair mechanisms may be enough to grant negligible senescence.   I would predict that organisms showing negligible senescence would show such peroxidation resistance, that is they would have a lower PI and it may even be significantly lower(depending on threshold or break even point for indefinite homeostatic balance/maintenance), and a quick wikipedia search shows just that in at least one organism

 Abstract:
Summary: The deleterious reactive carbonyls released upon oxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids in biological membranes are believed to foster cellular aging. Comparative studies in mammals and birds have shown that the susceptibility to peroxidation of membrane lipids peroxidation index (PI) is negatively correlated with longevity. Long-living marine molluscs are increasingly studied as longevity models, and the presence of different types of lipids in the membranes of these organisms raises questions on the existence of a PI-longevity relationship. We address this question by comparing the longest living metazoan species, the mud clam Arctica islandica (maximum reported longevity = 507 year) to four other sympatric bivalve molluscs greatly differing in longevity (28, 37, 92, and 106 year). We contrasted the acyl and alkenyl chain composition of phospholipids from the mitochondrial membranes of these species. The analysis was reproduced in parallel for a mix of other cell membranes to investigate whether a different PI-longevity relationship would be found. The mitochondrial membrane PI was found to have an exponential decrease with increasing longevity among species and is significantly lower for A. islandica. The PI of other cell membranes showed a linear decrease with increasing longevity among species and was also significantly lower for A. islandica. These results clearly demonstrate that the PI also decreases with increasing longevity in marine bivalves and that it decreases faster in the mitochondrial membrane than in other membranes in general. Furthermore, the particularly low PI values for A. islandica can partly explain this species' extreme longevity.

^ Munro, D., and Blier P.U. (2012). The extreme longevity of Arctica islandica is associated with increased peroxidation resistance in mitochondrial membranes. Ageing Cell 11(5): 845-55. doi: 10.1111/j.1474-9726.2012.00847.x. Epub 2012 Jul 25.-wikipedia