In Search of Common Transcriptional Regulators of Aging

Are there common regulators of aging to be found among transcription factors? Sweeping, complex, tissue-specific and species-specific changes in gene expression take place over the course of aging. If these are reactions to comparatively straightforward processes of molecular damage at the root of aging, processes that are similar between species, then it is possible that there also exist at least a few regulators that are also comparatively straightforward and similar between species. Where is the leap from simplicity to complexity? Is it that the immediate reaction to damage is complicated, with a hundred different sensors and systems reacting in their own ways? Or is the reaction to damage marshaled by a few controlling systems at the top level, leading to a sea of complexity downstream of those controlling systems? Which of these is the case makes a big difference as to the type of potential rejuvenation therapies that might be useful to attempt - though in either case repairing the damage sounds like a better idea to me. Here, we measure changes in the transcriptome, histone modifications, and DNA methylome in three metabolic tissues of adult and aged mice. Our main question was whether common regulatory players underlie the seemingly tissue- and species-specific molecular footprint of aging. We show that although the molecular footprint of aging evolves differently across tissues, striking similarities emerge in terms of affected pathways and underlying regulat...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs