Chromatin-modifying genetic interventions suppress age-associated transposable element activation and extend life span in Drosophila.

ABSTRACT: Transposable elements (TEs) are mobile genetic elements, highly enriched in heterochromatin, that constitute a large percentage of the DNA content of eukaryotic genomes. Aging in Drosophila melanogaster is characterized by loss of repressive heterochromatin structure and loss of silencing of reporter genes in constitutive heterochromatin regions. Using next-generation sequencing, we found that transcripts of many genes native to heterochromatic regions and TEs increased with age in fly heads and fat bodies. A dietary restriction regimen, known to extend life span, repressed the age-related increased expression of genes located in heterochromatin, as well as TEs. We also observed a corresponding age-associated increase in TE transposition in fly fat body cells that was delayed by dietary re

SUBMITTER: Wood JG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5056045 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature