Aging Fly Cell Atlas identifies exhaustive aging features at cellular resolution
Tzu‐Chiao Lu, Maria Brbić, Ye-Jin Park, Tyler Jackson, Jiaye Chen, Sai Saroja Kolluru, Yanyan Qi, Nadja Sandra Katheder, Xiaoyu Cai, Seungjae Lee, Yen‐Chung Chen, Niccole L. Auld, Chung‐Yi Liang, Sophia H. Ding, Doug Welsch, Samuel D’Souza, Angela Oliveira Pisco, Robert C. Jones, Jure Leskovec, Eric C. Lai, Hugo J. Bellen, Liqun Luo, Heinrich Jasper, Stephen R. Quake, Hongjie Li
Abstract
Aging is characterized by a decline in tissue function, but the underlying changes at cellular resolution across the organism remain unclear. Here, we present the Aging Fly Cell Atlas, a single-nucleus transcriptomic map of the whole aging Drosophila . We characterized 163 distinct cell types and performed an in-depth analysis of changes in tissue cell composition, gene expression, and cell identities. We further developed aging clock models to predict fly age and show that ribosomal gene expression is a conserved predictive factor for age. Combining all aging features, we find distinctive cell type–specific aging patterns. This atlas provides a valuable resource for studying fundamental principles of aging in complex organisms.