Artificially stimulating retrotransposon activity increases mortality and accelerates a subset of aging phenotypes in Drosophila
- Brandeis University, United States
Abstract
Transposable elements (TE) are mobile sequences of DNA that can become transcriptionally active as an animal ages. Whether TE activity is simply a byproduct of heterochromatin breakdown or can contribute towards the aging process is not known. Here we place the TE gypsy under the control of the UAS GAL4 system to model TE activation during aging. We find that increased TE activity shortens the lifespan of male D. melanogaster. The effect is only apparent in middle aged animals. The increase in mortality is not seen in young animals. An intact reverse transcriptase is necessary for the decrease in lifespan implicating a DNA mediated process in the effect. The decline in lifespan in the active gypsy flies is accompanied by the acceleration of a subset of aging phenotypes. TE activity increases sensitivity to oxidative stress and promotes a decline in circadian rhythmicity. The overexpression of the Forkhead-box O family (FOXO) stress response transcription factor can partially rescue the detrimental effects of increased TE activity on lifespan. Our results provide evidence that active TEs can behave as effectors in the aging process and suggest a potential novel role for dFOXO in its promotion of longevity in D. melanogaster.
Data availability
Sequencing data have been deposited in GEO under accession code GSE205416.
Article and author information
Author details
Ane Martin Anduaga
Funding
National Institute on Aging (R21AG054724)
- Joyce Rigal
- Michael T Marr II
National Institute on Aging (R01AG057700)
- Sebastian Kadener
- Michael T Marr II
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Copyright
© 2022, Rigal et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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Artificially stimulating retrotransposon activity increases mortality and accelerates a subset of aging phenotypes in Drosophila
eLife 11:e80169.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.80169
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