While young flies express certain stress-response genes weakly or not at all, old flies express these genes at a higher level and rhythmically.DAVID HENDRIX, OREGON STATE UNIVERSITYSome genes controlled by the body’s circadian clock are more active in older fruit flies compared to younger ones. And oxidative stress can induce the expression of these genes in young flies, according to a study published today (February 21) in Nature Communications. Disruption of the 24-hour circadian clock has previously been shown to be deleterious, exacerbating aging-related health issues. These latest results add to a body of evidence suggesting an anti-aging role of the circadian clock.
“The finding that the circadian transcriptional program changes with age is totally novel,” Amita Sehgal, who studies sleep and circadian rhythms in fruit flies at the University of Pennsylvania but was not involved in the work, wrote in an email to The Scientist.
The study’s results “are surprising, because the conventional wisdom in the field based on studies of mammals and human subjects is that circadian rhythms weaken with aging,” Michael Nitabach, who studies the genetic basis of behavior of fruit flies at Yale University, and who also was not involved in the work, wrote in an email to The Scientist. “This adds an interesting wrinkle that there is induction of rhythmicity of some transcripts with aging, not just weakening or loss of rhythmicity.”
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