| Autor: |
Mann FG; Departments of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Stanford University Medical Center, Stanford, California, United States of America., Van Nostrand EL; Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Institute of Genomic Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California, United States of America., Friedland AE; Editas Medicine, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America., Liu X; School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China., Kim SK; Departments of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Stanford University Medical Center, Stanford, California, United States of America. |
| Abstrakt: |
To understand the molecular processes underlying aging, we screened modENCODE ChIP-seq data to identify transcription factors that bind to age-regulated genes in C. elegans. The most significant hit was the GATA transcription factor encoded by elt-2, which is responsible for inducing expression of intestinal genes during embryogenesis. Expression of ELT-2 decreases during aging, beginning in middle age. We identified genes regulated by ELT-2 in the intestine during embryogenesis, and then showed that these developmental genes markedly decrease in expression as worms grow old. Overexpression of elt-2 extends lifespan and slows the rate of gene expression changes that occur during normal aging. Thus, our results identify the developmental regulator ELT-2 as a major driver of normal aging in C. elegans. |
