2025
Sultanova, Zahida; Shen, Aykut; Hencel, Katarzyna; Carlsson, Hanne; Crighton, Zoe; Clifton, Daniel; Akay, Alper; Maklakov, Alexei A.
Optimising Age-Specific Insulin Signalling to Slow Down Reproductive Ageing Increases Fitness in Different Nutritional Environments Journal Article
In: Aging Cell, vol. n/a, no. n/a, pp. e14481, 2025, ISSN: 1474-9726, (_eprint: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/acel.14481).
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: ageing, developmental theory of ageing, life-history evolution, trade-offs
@article{sultanova_optimising_2025,
title = {Optimising Age-Specific Insulin Signalling to Slow Down Reproductive Ageing Increases Fitness in Different Nutritional Environments},
author = {Zahida Sultanova and Aykut Shen and Katarzyna Hencel and Hanne Carlsson and Zoe Crighton and Daniel Clifton and Alper Akay and Alexei A. Maklakov},
url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/acel.14481},
doi = {10.1111/acel.14481},
issn = {1474-9726},
year = {2025},
date = {2025-01-01},
urldate = {2025-01-30},
journal = {Aging Cell},
volume = {n/a},
number = {n/a},
pages = {e14481},
abstract = {The developmental theory of ageing proposes that age-specific decline in the force of natural selection results in suboptimal levels of gene expression in adulthood, leading to functional senescence. This theory explicitly predicts that optimising gene expression in adulthood can ameliorate functional senescence and improve fitness. Reduced insulin/IGF-1 signalling (rIIS) extends the reproductive lifespan of Caenorhabditis elegans at the cost of reduced reproduction. Here, we show that adulthood-only rIIS improves late-life reproduction without any detrimental effects on other life-history traits in both benign and stressful conditions. Remarkably, we show that rIIS additively extends late-life reproduction and lifespan when animals are exposed to a fluctuating food environment—intermittent fasting (IF)—resulting in reduced food intake in early adulthood. Full factorial genome-wide RNA-Seq across the life course demonstrated that IF and rIIS modulate the age-specific expression of pro-longevity genes. IF, rIIS and combined IF + rIIS treatment downregulated genes involved in biosynthesis in early life and differentially regulated immunity genes in later life. Importantly, combined IF + rIIS treatment uniquely regulated a large cluster of genes in mid-life that are associated with immune response. These results suggest that optimising gene expression in adulthood can decelerate reproductive ageing and increase fitness.},
note = {_eprint: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/acel.14481},
keywords = {ageing, developmental theory of ageing, life-history evolution, trade-offs},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
The developmental theory of ageing proposes that age-specific decline in the force of natural selection results in suboptimal levels of gene expression in adulthood, leading to functional senescence. This theory explicitly predicts that optimising gene expression in adulthood can ameliorate functional senescence and improve fitness. Reduced insulin/IGF-1 signalling (rIIS) extends the reproductive lifespan of Caenorhabditis elegans at the cost of reduced reproduction. Here, we show that adulthood-only rIIS improves late-life reproduction without any detrimental effects on other life-history traits in both benign and stressful conditions. Remarkably, we show that rIIS additively extends late-life reproduction and lifespan when animals are exposed to a fluctuating food environment—intermittent fasting (IF)—resulting in reduced food intake in early adulthood. Full factorial genome-wide RNA-Seq across the life course demonstrated that IF and rIIS modulate the age-specific expression of pro-longevity genes. IF, rIIS and combined IF + rIIS treatment downregulated genes involved in biosynthesis in early life and differentially regulated immunity genes in later life. Importantly, combined IF + rIIS treatment uniquely regulated a large cluster of genes in mid-life that are associated with immune response. These results suggest that optimising gene expression in adulthood can decelerate reproductive ageing and increase fitness.