Age-Related Gene Expression Signature in Rats Demonstrate Early, Late, and Linear Transcriptional Changes from Multiple Tissues

Abstract

Summary: To understand the changes in gene expression that occur as a result of age, which might create a permissive or causal environment for age-related diseases, we produce a multi-time point age-related gene expression signature (AGES) from liver, kidney, skeletal muscle, and hippocampus of rats, comparing 6-, 9-, 12-, 18-, 21-, 24-, and 27-month-old animals. We focus on genes that changed in one direction throughout the lifespan of the animal, either early in life (early logistic changes), at mid-age (mid-logistic), late in life (late-logistic), or linearly, throughout the lifespan of the animal. The pathways perturbed because of chronological age demonstrate organ-specific and more-global effects of aging and point to mechanisms that could potentially be counter-regulated pharmacologically to treat age-associated diseases. A small number of genes are regulated by aging in the same manner in every tissue, suggesting they may be more-universal markers of aging. : Shavlakadze et al. studied gene expression changes occurring because of aging throughout the lifespan of rats, examining liver, skeletal muscle, kidney, and the hippocampus. The study should serve as a valuable resource for the discovery of biomarkers and mediators of age-related disorders. Keywords: aging, ageing, aging gene signature, rat, liver, kidney, muscle, hippocampus, inflammation, mitochondria, RNA-seq, gene expression