Aging is a major risk factor for chronic diseases, which in turn can provide information about the aging of a biological system. This publication serves as an introduction to systems biology and its application to biological aging. Key pathways and processes that impinge on aging are reviewed, and how they contribute to health and disease during aging is discussed. The evolution of this situation is analyzed, and the consequences for the study of genetic effects on aging are presented. Epigenetic programming of aging, as a continuation of development, creates an interface between the genome and the environment. New research into the gut microbiome describes how this interface may operate in practice with marked consequences for a variety of disorders. This analysis is bolstered by a view of the aging organism as a whole, with conclusions about the mechanisms underlying resilience of the organism to change, and is expanded with a discussion of circadian rhythms in aging. Finally, the book presents an outlook for the development of interventions to delay or to reverse the features of aging. The publication is recommended to students, researchers as well as professionals dealing with public health and public policy related to an aging society

Introduction VII

Introduction to the Theory of Aging Networks 1

Applications to Aging Networks 18

Computational Systems Biology for Aging Research 35

How Does the Body Know How Old It Is? Introducing the Epigenetic Clock Hypothesis 49

The Great Evolutionary Divide: Two Genomic Systems Biologies of Aging 63

Development and Aging: Two Opposite but Complementary Phenomena 74

Aging as a Process of Deficit Accumulation: Its Utility and Origin 85

Low-Grade Systemic Inflammation Connects Aging, Metabolic Syndrome and Cardiovascular Disease 99

Modulating mTOR in Aging and Health 107

Melatonin and Circadian Oscillators in Aging - A Dynamic Approach to the Multiply Connected Players 128

Diet-Microbiota-Health Interactions in Older Subjects: Implications for Healthy Aging 141

Systems Biology Approaches in Aging Research 155

Conservative Growth Hormone/IGF-1 and mTOR Signaling Pathways as a Target for Aging and Cancer Prevention: Do We Really Have an Antiaging Drug? 177

Author Index 189

Subject Index 190

中国医科院医学信息研究所