Project description:The determination of molecular pathways that are affected with age and lead to increased disease susceptibility is crucial. The nematode has proven an ideal experimental model to study ageing due to significantly conserved genes governing ageing throughout species. Profiling of gene expression levels in ageing wt Caenorhabditis elegans, utilizing a robust Affymetrix microarray platform, resulted in the identification of age-dependent gene expression alterations that characterize the nematode's ageing process. We used Affymetrix microarrays to detail the global programme of gene expression underlying ageing and identified distinct classes of up- or down-regulated genes during this process.