Dietary restriction regulates microRNAs in longevity regulons

Aging is a complex process involving multiple pathways, each of which takes place and dominates at various stages of aging. It is largely unclear how these pathways coordinate with each other and take turns to function. Here we focus on microRNAs (miRNAs), for their multi-targeting, fine-tuning nature, and thus a potential to act as systems–level anti-aging regulator. We used C. elegans treated with dietary restriction as an anti-aging model to reveal how miRNAs link the regulatory modules of different stages to convert starvation signal into longevity benefits. miRNAs show a delayed response pattern upon DR, repress early response genes and fine-tune late response genes. Overall design: miRNA profile in C. elegans treated with CR, IF, and ad libitum (AL) in time series during aging