Data from: Selection for early reproduction leads to accelerated aging and extensive metabolic remodeling in Drosophila melanogaster

Experimental evolution studies that feature selection on life-history
characters are a proven approach for studying the evolution of aging and
variation in rates of senescence. Recently, the incorporation of genomic
and transcriptomic approaches into this framework has led to the
identification of hundreds of genes associated with different aging
patterns. However, our understanding of the specific molecular mechanisms
underlying these aging patterns remains limited. Here, we incorporated
extensive metabolomic profiling into this framework to generate
mechanistic insights into aging patterns in Drosophila melanogaster.
Specifically, we characterized metabolomic change over adult lifespan in
populations of D. melanogaster where selection for early reproduction has
led to an accelerated aging phenotype relative to their controls. Using
these data we: i) evaluated evolutionary repeatability across the
metabolome; ii) assessed the value of the metabolome as a predictor of
“biological age” in this system; and iii) identified specific metabolites
associated with accelerated aging. Generally, our findings suggest that
selection for early reproduction resulted in highly repeatable alterations
to the metabolome and the metabolome itself is a reliable predictor of
“biological age”. Specifically, we find clusters of metabolites that are
associated with the different rates of senescence observed between our
accelerated aging population and their controls, adding new insights into
the metabolites that may be driving the accelerated aging phenotype.