Pattern of gene expression during aging in heads of mated female Drosophila melanogaster. Drosophila melanogaster

The goal is to identify changes in gene expression with aging in the heads of mated female D. melanogaster. We measured lifespan in mated females from several hundred RILs (Recombinant Inbred Lines) derived from the "B" panel of the DSPR (Drosophila Synthetic Population Resource), additionally sampling young (Day 3) and old (day on which at least 50% of the animals were dead) animals. Subsequently we harvested RNA, specifically from heads (5-10 per strain per sample), from six RILs, for each RIL generating 2 RNA samples (from young and from old females). Each of the 12 total RNA samples was used to construct an Illumina TruSeq RNAseq library, and all 12 libraries were mixed, and run over two PE50 "Rapid Run" HiSeq2500 lanes.