Genomic Croesus: Experimental evolutionary genetics of Drosophila aging

► Multiple laboratories have studied Drosophila stocks with specific experimentally-evolved aging patterns aiming to estimate the number of genes involved in aging. ► Historically, these studies have tended to uncover a large number of putative genetic mechanisms in the control of aging. ► Recent genome-wide surveys suggest that hundreds of loci have undergone changes in allele frequency or gene expression as a result of selection for slowed aging. ► Understanding the functional consequences of all of these loci presents a significant challenge to the field of aging research.