Expression of most retrotransposons in human blood correlates with biological aging

Retrotransposons (RTEs) have been postulated to reactivate with age and contribute to aging through activated innate immune response and inflammation. Here, we analyzed the relationship between RTE expression and aging using published transcriptomic and methylomic datasets of human blood. Despite no...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:eLife 2024-10, Vol.13
Main Authors: Tsai, Yi-Ting, Seymen, Nogayhan, Thompson, I Richard, Zou, Xinchen, Mumtaz, Warisha, Gerlevik, Sila, Mufti, Ghulam J, Karimi, Mohammad M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age
Aged
Aging
Aging - genetics
Analysis
Anopheles
Atherosclerosis
biological aging
chronological aging
Correlation analysis
Datasets
DNA damage
DNA Methylation
DNA repair
Family
Gene Expression Profiling
Genes
Genetics and Genomics
Genomes
Humans
Immune response
Inflammation
Innate immunity
methylomics
Middle Aged
Plasma cells
Retroelements - genetics
retrotransposons
Senescence
Short interspersed nucleotide elements
Transcriptome
Transcriptomics
Transposons
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Summary:Retrotransposons (RTEs) have been postulated to reactivate with age and contribute to aging through activated innate immune response and inflammation. Here, we analyzed the relationship between RTE expression and aging using published transcriptomic and methylomic datasets of human blood. Despite no observed correlation between RTE activity and chronological age, the expression of most RTE classes and families except short interspersed nuclear elements (SINEs) correlated with biological age-associated gene signature scores. Strikingly, we found that the expression of SINEs was linked to upregulated DNA repair pathways in multiple cohorts. We also observed DNA hypomethylation with aging and the significant increase in RTE expression level in hypomethylated RTEs except for SINEs. Additionally, our single-cell transcriptomic analysis suggested a role for plasma cells in aging mediated by RTEs. Altogether, our multi-omics analysis of large human cohorts highlights the role of RTEs in biological aging and suggests possible mechanisms and cell populations for future investigations.
ISSN:2050-084X
2050-084X
DOI:10.7554/eLife.96575