title: Transcriptional profile of aging in C. elegans.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Numerous gerontogene mutants leading to dramatic life extensions have been identified in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans over the last 20 years. Analysis of these mutants has provided a basis for understanding the mechanisms driving the aging process(es). Several distinct mechanisms including an altered rate of aging, increased resistance to stress, decreased metabolic rate, or alterations in a program causing organismic aging and death have been proposed to underlie these mutants.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Whole-genome analysis of gene expression during chronological aging of the worm provides a rich database of age-specific changes in gene expression and represents one way to distinguish among these models. Using a rigorous statistical model with multiple replicates, we find that a relatively small number of genes (only 164) show statistically significant changes in transcript levels as aging occurs (<1% of the genome). Expression of heat shock proteins decreases, while expression of certain transposases increases in older worms, and these findings are consistent with a higher mortality risk due to a failure in homeostenosis and destabilization of the genome in older animals. Finally, a specific subset of genes is coordinately altered both during chronological aging and in the transition from the reproductive form to the dauer, demonstrating a mechanistic overlap in aging between these two processes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We have performed a whole-genome analysis of changes in gene expression during aging in C. elegans that provides a molecular description of C. elegans senescence.
authors.affiliation: Department of Developmental Biology, Stanford University Medical Center, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lund
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tedesco
authors.forename: Kyle
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Duke
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Stuart K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Thomas E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Johnson
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000235:genetics*; D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D017238:Genes, Helminth; D008136:Longevity / Q000235:genetics; D009154:Mutation; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D018510:RNA, Helminth / Q000235:genetics; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000235:genetics; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D018510:RNA, Helminth; D012333:RNA, Messenger