Gene expression profiling of aging in C.elegans by RNA-Seq

MasterAging is a complex physiological process regulated by environmental conditions and genetic mechanism. The appearance of aging is a consequence of dynamic changes of diverse genes involved in multiple processes. The recent developments in high-throughput sequencing technology allow us the simultaneous study of the expression of thousands of genes or their RNA products, giving an accurate global picture of gene expression. To investigate the functional roles of gene expressional dynamics in the aging process, we performed RNA-Seq using mRNAs separated from C. elegans over the life-course. We identified 1924 genes whose expressions were significantly changed. In order to identify overrepresented biological processes from differential expressed genes, we performed Gene Ontology analysis. From these results, we could confirm that aging worms underwent a progressive functional decline in immune response and metabolic functions beginning in early life. Also, to overcome these functional declines, worms strengthened their defense mechanisms for growth and development. Furthermore, we monitored dynamic changes of gene transcription levels at four adult stages. We suggest that these molecular signatures reflect a combination of transcriptional responses to the process of aging. Our results help to understand which groups of genes are undergo transcriptional changes in the normal aging process and give some clues for potential unidentified aging mechanism