Many aging genes have been found from unbiased screens in model organisms. Genetic interventions promoting longevity are usually quantitative, the number of genes involved is large, and the effect of genetic background is strong. It is not clear how optimal interventions can be devised on such complex genetics. In the case of aging research therefore the need for a quantitative model to guide and help interpret experiments is especially important. We propose to use a Systems Biology approach for the study of cardiac aging in Drosophila, iterative modeling and data collection. A functional network model (based on network dynamics) will be further developed, allowing the study of real biological networks and the integration of biological data. It will also be compared to more data-driven approaches based on multivariate analysis. We have shown that aged flies have cardiac changes comparable to those in elderly humans and we are developing high-throughput technology for the measurement of cardiac aging in Drosophila, one of the main model organisms used in aging research. The high-throughput phenotyping and modeling tools we intend to develop will be useful to researchers in the field of cardiac aging and to those working on aging in general. ? ? ?
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| Coquin, Laurence; Feala, Jacob D; McCulloch, Andrew D et al. (2008) Metabolomic and flux-balance analysis of age-related decline of hypoxia tolerance in Drosophila muscle tissue. Mol Syst Biol 4:233 |
