Tissue-specific aging—a new paradigm based on transcriptional insights from select model systems and humans

Abstract

Aging is a complex process affected by genes and modified by environment. The forefront of aging research has moved from the level of organisms to the level of tissues and single cells, analyzed using bulk tissue and single-cell transcriptomes. Transcriptomics provides high resolution, comprehensive information per sample, and scalability to large numbers of samples. Datasets obtained from multiple tissues at multiple time points indicate that each tissue ages differently. The transcriptomic approach promises to greatly widen the identification of the candidate mechanisms and genes driving aging-related changes, which could then be tested in model organisms. Our focus here will be work in C. elegans , Drosophila , mice and humans, though considerable progress is being made in other organisms. Current research is translating molecular and physiological markers of tissue-specific aging into a wide range of diagnostics. An ultimate goal is to translate underlying mechanisms into therapies that will improve human health span.