Genome-wide study of aging and oxidative stress response in Drosophila melanogaster

Aging is a universal but poorly understood biological process. Free radical s accumulate with age and have been proposed to be a major cause of aging. We measured genome-wide changes in transcript levels as a function of age i n Drosophila melanogaster and compared these changes with those caused by p araquat, a free-radical generator. A number of genes exhibited changes in t ranscript levels with both age and paraquat treatment. We also found genes whose transcript levels changed with age but not with paraquat treatment Th is study suggests that free radicals play an important role in regulating t ranscript levels in aging but that they are not the only factors. This geno me-wide survey also identifies candidates for molecular markers of aging.