Universal DNA methylation age across mammalian tissues - Nature Aging

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• Aging, often considered a result of random cellular damage, can be accurately estimated using DNA methylation profiles, the foundation of pan-tissue epigenetic clocks

• demonstrate the development of universal pan-mammalian clocks, using 11,754 methylation arrays from our Mammalian Methylation Consortium

• encompass 59 tissue types across 185 mammalian species

• predictive models estimate mammalian tissue age with high accuracy (r > 0.96)

• Age deviations correlate with human mortality risk

• mouse somatotropic axis mutations and caloric restriction

• identified specific cytosines with methylation levels that change with age across numerous species

• sites, highly enriched in polycomb repressive complex 2-binding locations, are near genes implicated in mammalian development, cancer, obesity and longevity

• aging is evolutionarily conserved and intertwined with developmental processes across all mammals