Comparative Whole-Transcriptome Analysis of Peripheral Blood from Rhesus Macaques of Different Ages

Background: Aging is a complex and irreversible process influenced by a combination of factors, including genetic background, environment, and various diseases. Aging-related processes are reflected at the transcriptomic level. Expression profiling of peripheral blood, the only tissue connected to all organs and thus capable of reflecting processes occurring throughout the body, is of particular interest. Methods: In this study, we conducted a whole-transcriptome analysis of peripheral blood from male rhesus macaques in two age groups: 5.83 ± 1.06 and 28.4 ± 1.7 years. Enrichment analysis was performed using Cytoscape v.3.10.4. Results: RNA-seq analysis identified 741 differentially expressed genes (DEGs): 377 upregulated and 364 downregulated in old macaques compared to young individuals. The enrichment analysis identified 22 metabolic processes distributed across 10 groups. Conclusions: Bioinformatic analysis of DEGs revealed a complex picture of processes associated with genome stability (chromatin remodeling and organization, histone modification), gene expression (RNA splicing, translation), transport, oxidative stress, and platelet aggregation during aging. The identified key genes represent promising potential markers of aging. This list includes both upregulated DEGs (NDUFS7, PPIA, FERMT3, and RPS14) and downregulated DEGs (CHD6, CHD7, NDE1, CHAF1A, CHD2, EIF2S2, UPF3B, SMARCA4, and LOC706480 (NAP1L1)). The known functions of these genes, as well as their disease associations, strongly support the hypothesis that peripheral blood reflects processes occurring throughout the body, including the brain.