Effects of age, sex, and genotype on high‐sensitivity metabolomic profiles in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster

Aging Cell

Jessica M. Hoffman¹  Quinlyn A. Soltow²  Shuzhao Li²  Alfire Sidik¹  Dean P. Jones² 

[1] Department of Genetics, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA;Division of Pulmonary Allergy & Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA

关键词: age;    aging;    Drosophila melanogaster;    genetic variation;    genotype;    heritability;    metabolomics;    sex;    systems biology;   

DOI  :  10.1111/acel.12215

来源: Wiley

【 摘 要 】

Summary

Researchers have used whole-genome sequencing and gene expression profiling to identify genes associated with age, in the hope of understanding the underlying mechanisms of senescence. But there is a substantial gap from variation in gene sequences and expression levels to variation in age or life expectancy. In an attempt to bridge this gap, here we describe the effects of age, sex, genotype, and their interactions on high-sensitivity metabolomic profiles in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. Among the 6800 features analyzed, we found that over one-quarter of all metabolites were significantly associated with age, sex, genotype, or their interactions, and multivariate analysis shows that individual metabolomic profiles are highly predictive of these traits. Using a metabolomic equivalent of gene set enrichment analysis, we identified numerous metabolic pathways that were enriched among metabolites associated with age, sex, and genotype, including pathways involving sugar and glycerophospholipid metabolism, neurotransmitters, amino acids, and the carnitine shuttle. Our results suggest that high-sensitivity metabolomic studies have excellent potential not only to reveal mechanisms that lead to senescence, but also to help us understand differences in patterns of aging among genotypes and between males and females.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2014 The Authors. Aging Cell published by the Anatomical Society and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.