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Omics in a Digital World: The Role of Bioinformatics in Providing New Insights Into Human Aging
BACKGROUND: Aging is a complex phenotype influenced by a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Although many studies addressed its cellular and physiological age-related changes, the molecular causes of aging remain undetermined. Considering the biological complexity and heterogeneity of...
Autores principales: | , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2021
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Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8225294/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34178042 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2021.689824 |
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author | Dato, Serena Crocco, Paolina Rambaldi Migliore, Nicola Lescai, Francesco |
author_facet | Dato, Serena Crocco, Paolina Rambaldi Migliore, Nicola Lescai, Francesco |
author_sort | Dato, Serena |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: Aging is a complex phenotype influenced by a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Although many studies addressed its cellular and physiological age-related changes, the molecular causes of aging remain undetermined. Considering the biological complexity and heterogeneity of the aging process, it is now clear that full understanding of mechanisms underlying aging can only be achieved through the integration of different data types and sources, and with new computational methods capable to achieve such integration. RECENT ADVANCES: In this review, we show that an omics vision of the age-dependent changes occurring as the individual ages can provide researchers with new opportunities to understand the mechanisms of aging. Combining results from single-cell analysis with systems biology tools would allow building interaction networks and investigate how these networks are perturbed during aging and disease. The development of high-throughput technologies such as next-generation sequencing, proteomics, metabolomics, able to investigate different biological markers and to monitor them simultaneously during the aging process with high accuracy and specificity, represents a unique opportunity offered to biogerontologists today. CRITICAL ISSUES: Although the capacity to produce big data drastically increased over the years, integration, interpretation and sharing of high-throughput data remain major challenges. In this paper we present a survey of the emerging omics approaches in aging research and provide a large collection of datasets and databases as a useful resource for the scientific community to identify causes of aging. We discuss their peculiarities, emphasizing the need for the development of methods focused on the integration of different data types. FUTURE DIRECTIONS: We critically review the contribution of bioinformatics into the omics of aging research, and we propose a few recommendations to boost collaborations and produce new insights. We believe that significant advancements can be achieved by following major developments in bioinformatics, investing in diversity, data sharing and community-driven portable bioinformatics methods. We also argue in favor of more engagement and participation, and we highlight the benefits of new collaborations along these lines. This review aims at being a useful resource for many researchers in the field, and a call for new partnerships in aging research. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8225294 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-82252942021-06-25 Omics in a Digital World: The Role of Bioinformatics in Providing New Insights Into Human Aging Dato, Serena Crocco, Paolina Rambaldi Migliore, Nicola Lescai, Francesco Front Genet Genetics BACKGROUND: Aging is a complex phenotype influenced by a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Although many studies addressed its cellular and physiological age-related changes, the molecular causes of aging remain undetermined. Considering the biological complexity and heterogeneity of the aging process, it is now clear that full understanding of mechanisms underlying aging can only be achieved through the integration of different data types and sources, and with new computational methods capable to achieve such integration. RECENT ADVANCES: In this review, we show that an omics vision of the age-dependent changes occurring as the individual ages can provide researchers with new opportunities to understand the mechanisms of aging. Combining results from single-cell analysis with systems biology tools would allow building interaction networks and investigate how these networks are perturbed during aging and disease. The development of high-throughput technologies such as next-generation sequencing, proteomics, metabolomics, able to investigate different biological markers and to monitor them simultaneously during the aging process with high accuracy and specificity, represents a unique opportunity offered to biogerontologists today. CRITICAL ISSUES: Although the capacity to produce big data drastically increased over the years, integration, interpretation and sharing of high-throughput data remain major challenges. In this paper we present a survey of the emerging omics approaches in aging research and provide a large collection of datasets and databases as a useful resource for the scientific community to identify causes of aging. We discuss their peculiarities, emphasizing the need for the development of methods focused on the integration of different data types. FUTURE DIRECTIONS: We critically review the contribution of bioinformatics into the omics of aging research, and we propose a few recommendations to boost collaborations and produce new insights. We believe that significant advancements can be achieved by following major developments in bioinformatics, investing in diversity, data sharing and community-driven portable bioinformatics methods. We also argue in favor of more engagement and participation, and we highlight the benefits of new collaborations along these lines. This review aims at being a useful resource for many researchers in the field, and a call for new partnerships in aging research. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-06-10 /pmc/articles/PMC8225294/ /pubmed/34178042 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2021.689824 Text en Copyright © 2021 Dato, Crocco, Rambaldi Migliore and Lescai. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
spellingShingle | Genetics Dato, Serena Crocco, Paolina Rambaldi Migliore, Nicola Lescai, Francesco Omics in a Digital World: The Role of Bioinformatics in Providing New Insights Into Human Aging |
title | Omics in a Digital World: The Role of Bioinformatics in Providing New Insights Into Human Aging |
title_full | Omics in a Digital World: The Role of Bioinformatics in Providing New Insights Into Human Aging |
title_fullStr | Omics in a Digital World: The Role of Bioinformatics in Providing New Insights Into Human Aging |
title_full_unstemmed | Omics in a Digital World: The Role of Bioinformatics in Providing New Insights Into Human Aging |
title_short | Omics in a Digital World: The Role of Bioinformatics in Providing New Insights Into Human Aging |
title_sort | omics in a digital world: the role of bioinformatics in providing new insights into human aging |
topic | Genetics |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8225294/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34178042 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2021.689824 |
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