Project description:Cognitive decline is a common occurrence of the natural aging process in animals, and studying age-related changes in gene expression in the brain might shed light on disrupted molecular pathways that play a role in this decline. The fruit fly is a useful neurobiological model for studying aging due to its short generational time and relatively small brain size. We investigated age-dependent changes in the Drosophila melanogaster whole-brain transcriptome by comparing 5-, 20-, 30- and 40-day-old flies of both sexes. We used RNA-Sequencing of dissected brain samples followed by differential expression, temporal clustering, co-expression network and gene ontology enrichment analyses. Our study provides the first transcriptome profile of aging brains from fruit flies of both sexes, and it will serve as an important resource for those who study aging and cognitive decline in this model.
Project description:Aging is accompanied by the functional decline of all tissues, but it is still largely unknown how aging impacts different tissues in a cell type-specific manner. Here, we present the Aging Fly Cell Atlas (AFCA) that includes single-nucleus transcriptomes of the entire Drosophila head and body from both males and females at four different ages. We characterize 162 distinct cell types and present an in-depth analysis of cell type-specific aging features, including changes of cell composition, gene expression, number of expressed genes, transcriptome noise, and cell identity. By combining all aging features, including aging clock models predicting a cell’s age, we find cell-type specific aging patterns. Adipose tissues showed the highest aging score, followed by two cell types from the reproductive system. This transcriptomic atlas provides a valuable resource for the community to study fundamental principles of aging in complex organisms.
Project description:Wild-type Drosophila melanogaster expressing nuclear GFP-KASH fusion protein in photoreceptors for cell type-specific gene expression profiling (Rh1-Gal4>UAS-GFPKASH ; Genotype = w1118;; P{w+mC=[UAS-GFP-Msp300KASH}attP2, P{ry+t7.2=rh1-GAL4}3, ry506) were raised in 12:12h light:dark cycle at 25°C. Flies were aged for 10 or 40 days post-eclosion, and eyes were harvested from male flies for global quantitative proteomic analysis. Significantly changed proteins were identified that may contribute to age-associated retinal degeneration and loss of visual function in the aging Drosophila eye.
Project description:Transposable elements (TE) are mobile sequences of DNA that can become transcriptionally active as an animal ages. Activation of the stress response transcription factor FOXO can increase longevity in flies and worms. Research into the subject has centered on metabolism as the driver of aging. Whether TE activity is a byproduct of heterochromatin breakdown or can contribute towards the aging process is not known. Neither is the potential effect of FOXO on TE expression during aging. Here we examine dFOXO’s effect on TE expression during aging by using bulk RNAseq of whole male flies.
Project description:Stable isotope labeling by amino acids in cell culture (SILAC) is widely used to quantify protein abundance in tissue culture cells. Until now, the only multicellular organism completely labeled at the amino acid level was the laboratory mouse. The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster is one of the most widely used small animal models in biology. Here, we show that feeding flies with SILAC-labeled yeast leads to almost complete labeling in the first filial generation. We used these "SILAC flies" to investigate sexual dimorphism of protein abundance in D. melanogaster. Quantitative proteome comparison of adult male and female flies revealed distinct biological processes specific for each sex. Using a tudor mutant that is defective for germ cell generation allowed us to differentiate between sex-specific protein expression in the germ line and somatic tissue. We identified many proteins with known sex-specific expression bias. In addition, several new proteins with a potential role in sexual dimorphism were identified. Collectively, our data show that the SILAC fly can be used to accurately quantify protein abundance in vivo. The approach is simple, fast, and cost-effective, making SILAC flies an attractive model system for the emerging field of in vivo quantitative proteomics.
Project description:Influence of diet and neuronal clk (clock) activity on hemolymph proteomics. We have shown that as photoreceptors die (in the fly) they necrose, which results in their intercellular contents leaking into the hemolymph. We hypothesize that this process is regulated by diet and circadian clock control.
Analysis of differential protein expression in the hemolymph from flies reared on a high protein diet. Comparison of flies with and without a functional circadian clock within their photoreceptors.
Species/Strain: Drosophila, Elav-GeneSwitch-GAL4>UAS-Clk-DN1 (+/- RU486), female
Project description:Genetic analyses suggest that alterations in gene expression at the molecular and tissue levels can have profound effects on aging for multi-cellular organisms. However, much remains unknown about the normal pattern of genetic changes in different tissues and how these tissues interact during aging. To investigate tissue-specific aging systematically, we measured expression profiles of aging in Drosophila melanogaster in seven tissues representing nervous, muscular, digestive, renal, reproductive, and storage systems. In each tissue, we identified hundreds of age-related genes mostly showing gradual changes of transcript levels with age. Age-relatedgenes showed clear tissue-specific transcriptional patterns; less than 10% of age-related genes in each tissue shared expression patterns with any other tissue; less than 20% of age-related biological processes were shared between tissues. A significant portion of tissue-specific age-related genes are those involved in physiological functions regulated by the corresponding tissue. However, limited overlaps of age-related function groups among tissues particularly those involved in proteasome function suggest some common mechanisms of transcription regulation in aging across tissues. This study defined global, temporal and spatial changes associated withaging at the molecular and tissue levels. Analyses indicated that different tissues might age in different patterns or at different rates. This study addressed comprehensively the relationship of age-related changes among different tissues in one organism, providing a foundation to address tissue-specific regulation in aging. RNA was then amplified by a one-step linear amplification protocol to generate amplified RNA (aRNA). Experiment aRNA refers to amplified RNA from flies of 15, 20, 30, 45 and 60 days old, and reference aRNA refers to amplified RNA from flies of 3 days old, and experiment and reference aRNAs were labeled with fluorescent dye Cy3 and Cy5, respectively. For each tissue, RNA from the corresponding tissue of 3-day old flies was used as the reference RNA and expression profiles at each of the five age-points was measured twice by using independently prepared duplicated samples. Seven types of tissues or organs of the male fly strain w1118 , accessory gland, testis, brain, gut, malpighian tubule, dorsal thoracic muscle and abdominal fat body were hand dissected out of flies at age of 3, 15, 20, 30, 45 and 60 days old. Tissues or organs from four males of the same age were pooled together and used for each RNA sample preparation.
Project description:DNA methylation plays crucial roles during fetal development as well as aging. Whether the aging of the brain is programmed at the fetal stage remains untested. To test this hypothesis, mouse epigenetic clock (epiclock) was profiled in fetal (gestation day 15), postnatal (day 5), and aging (week 70) brain of male and female C57BL/6J inbred mice. Data analysis showed that on week 70, the female brain was epigenetically younger than the male brain. Predictive modeling by neural network identified specific methylations in the brain at the developing stages that were predictive of epigenetic state of the brain during aging. Transcriptomic analysis showed coordinated changes in the expression of epiclock genes in the fetal brain relative to the placenta. Whole-genome bisulfite sequencing identified sites that were methylated both in the placenta and fetal brain in a sex-specific manner. Epiclock genes and genes associated with specific signaling pathways, primarily the gonadotropin-releasing hormone receptor (GnRHR) pathway, were associated with the sex-bias methylations in the placenta as well as the fetal brain. Transcriptional crosstalk among the epiclock and GnRHR pathway genes was evident in the placenta that was maintained in the brain during development as well as aging. Collectively, these findings suggest that sex differences in the aging of the brain are of fetal origin and epigenetically linked to the placenta.
Project description:We collected female and male Glossina fuscipes fuscipes from the field (Uganda) and determined the Spiroplasma infections status of each individual. We used RNA-seq to investigate the effects of Spiroplasma on the male and female gene expression in the reproductive tissues. We observed that Spiroplasma infection induces sex-biased expressional changes in genes that encode proteins critical for tsetse`s reproductive success.
Project description:Tsetse flies (Glossina spp.) are major vectors of African trypanosomes, causing either Human or Animal African Trypanosomiasis (HAT or AAT). Several approaches are developed to control the disease among which the anti-vector Sterile Insect Technique. Another approach in the frame of anti-vector strategies could consist in controlling the fly’s vector competence which needs identifying factors (genes, proteins, biological pathways, …) involved in this process. The present work aims to verify whether protein candidates identified under experimental controlled conditions on insectary-reared tsetse flies have their counterpart in field-collected flies. Glossina palpalis palpalis flies naturally infected with Trypanosoma congolense were sampled in two HAT/AAT foci in Southern Cameroon. After dissection, the proteome from guts of parasite-infected flies were compared to that from uninfected flies in order to identify quantitative and/or qualitative changes associated to infection. A total of 3291 proteins were identified of which 1818 could be quantified. The comparative analysis allowed identifying 175 proteins with significant decreased abundance in infected as compared to uninfected flies, while 61 proteins displayed increased abundance. Among the former are RNA binding proteins, kinases, actin, ribosomal proteins, endocytosis proteins, oxido-reductases, as well as proteins that are unusually found such as tsetse salivary proteins (Tsal) or Yolk proteins. Among the proteins with increased abundance are fructose-1,6-biphosphatase, serine proteases, membrane trafficking proteins, death proteins (or apoptosis proteins), and SERPINs (inhibitor of serine proteases, enzymes considered as trypanosome virulence factors) that displayed highest increased abundance. Sodalis, Wiggleswothia and Wolbachia proteins are strongly under-represented, particularly when compared to data from similar experimentation conducted under controlled conditions on T. brucei gambiense infected (or uninfected) G. palpalis gambiensis insectary reared flies. Comparing the overall recorded data, 364 proteins identified in gut extracts from field flies were shown to have a homologue in insectary flies. Discrepancies between the two studies may arise from differences in the species of studied flies and trypanosomes as well as in differences in environmental conditions in which the two experiments were carried out. Finally, the present study together with former proteomic and transcriptomic studies on the secretome of trypanosomes, on the gut extracts from insectary reared and on field collected tsetse flies, provide a pool of data and information on which to draw in order to perform further investigations on, for example, mammal host immunization or on fly vector competence modification via para-transgenic approaches.