Using the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans (roundworm), researchers at the University of Cologne have collected new insights into chronobiology. The so-called aging clock canthe biological ageof an organism directly from its gene expression, the transcriptome. Until now, biological clocks such as Horvath's epigenetic clock were based on the pattern of methylation. These are small chemical groups that attach to DNA and change with age. However, the new method takes into account the set of genes and reads them from the DNA to make proteins for the cell.
Important new findings in chronobiology enable therapeutic approaches
The new approach uses a mathematical trick to eliminate differences in gene activity. Binarism divides genes into two groups and thus minimizes the high variation. This makes aging predictable based on the transcriptome. Surprisingly, this simple procedure allows very accurate prediction of biological age, close to the theoretical limits of accuracy. Most importantly, this biological clock continues to function even in old age. This was previously difficult to measure because the variation in gene activity is then particularly high. What the team calls the “BiT age” is based solely on approximately 1,000 different C. elegans transcriptomes. The lifespan of these is precisely known. Model organisms such as the nematode offer a controllableView of the aging process. This allows researchers to discover biomarkers and study the effects of external influences such as UV radiation or diet on longevity.
The new aging clock allows researchers to accurately predict the pro- and anti-aging effects of gene variants and various external factors in the nematode at a young age. The aging clock also showed that immune response genes and signaling in neurons are important for the aging process. In addition, BiT age can also be applied to predict human age quickly and with very high accuracy. Measuring biological age is important to determine the influence of environment, diet or therapies on the aging process and the development of age-related diseases.This studycould therefore find wide application in aging research. Since BiT age is based solely on gene activity, it can in principle be applied to any organism.
