The Neuron-specific IIS/FOXO Transcriptome in Aged Animals Reveals Regulatory Mechanisms of Cognitive Aging

Cognitive decline is a significant health concern in our aging society. Here, we used the model organismC. elegansto investigate the impact of the IIS/FOXO pathway on age-related cognitive decline. Thedaf-2Insulin/IGF-1 receptor mutant exhibits a significant extension of learning and memory span with age compared to wild-type worms, an effect that is dependent on the DAF-16 transcription factor. To identify possible mechanisms by which agingdaf-2mutants maintain learning and memory with age while wild-type worms lose neuronal function, we carried out neuron-specific transcriptomic analysis in aged animals. We observed downregulation of neuronal genes and upregulation of transcriptional regulation genes in aging wild-type neurons. By contrast, IIS/FOXO pathway mutants exhibit distinct neuronal transcriptomic alterations in response to cognitive aging, including upregulation of stress response genes and downregulation of specific insulin signaling genes. We tested the roles of significantly transcriptionally-changed genes in regulating cognitive functions, identifying novel regulators of learning and memory. In addition to other mechanistic insights, comparison of the aged vs youngdaf-2neuronal transcriptome revealed that a new set of potentially neuroprotective genes is upregulated; instead of simply mimicking a young state,daf-2may enhance neuronal resilience to accumulation of harm and take a more active approach to combat aging. These findings suggest a potential mechanism for regulating cognitive function with age and offer insights into novel therapeutic targets for age-related cognitive decline.