Data from: Age- and diet-associated metabolome remodeling characterizes the aging process driven by damage accumulation

Aging is thought to be associated with increased molecular damage, but
representative markers vary across conditions and organisms, making it
difficult to assess properties of cumulative damage throughout lifespan.
We used nontargeted metabolite profiling to follow age-associated
trajectories of >15,000 metabolites in Drosophila subjected to
control and lifespan-extending diets. We find that aging is associated
with increased metabolite diversity and low-abundance molecules,
suggesting they include cumulative damage. Remarkably, the number of
detected compounds leveled-off in late-life, and this pattern associated
with survivorship. Fourteen-percent of metabolites showed age-associated
changes, which decelerated in late-life and long-lived flies. In contrast,
known metabolites changed in abundance similarly to nontargeted
metabolites and transcripts, but did not increase in diversity. Targeted
profiling also revealed slower metabolism and accumulation of
lifespan-limiting molecules. Thus, aging is characterized by gradual
metabolome remodeling, and condition- and advanced age-associated
deceleration of this remodeling is linked to mortality and molecular
damage.