Aging Fly Cell Atlas identifies exhaustive aging features at cellular resolution.

Lu, Tzu-Chiao; Brbić, Maria; Park, Ye-Jin; Jackson, Tyler; Chen, Jiaye; Kolluru, Sai Saroja; Qi, Yanyan; Katheder, Nadja Sandra et al. · Science · 2023

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Aging is characterized by a decline in tissue function, but the underlying changes at cellular resolution across the organism remain unclear. Here, we present the Aging Fly Cell Atlas, a single-nucleus transcriptomic map of the whole aging <i>Drosophila</i>. We characterized 163 distinct cell types and performed an in-depth analysis of changes in tissue cell composition, gene expression, and cell identities. We further developed aging clock models to predict fly age and show that ribosomal gene expression is a conserved predictive factor for age. Combining all aging features, we find distinctive cell type-specific aging patterns. This atlas provides a valuable resource for studying fundamental principles of aging in complex organisms.

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