Understanding the biology of aging with interaction networks

Aging is a multifactorial phenomenon, a multiscale process that takes place at the molecular (proteins, genes), cellular and tissue levels and represents a complex set of events. This review will focus on the databases related to the aging process and on aging-related biological networks recently constructed to decipher the molecular mechanisms of aging, to characterize the effects of environmental factors and calorie restriction on aging and to determine the molecular links between aging and several diseases. The role played by chaperones, that are major participants of aging cellular networks and connect metabolic stress and dietary restriction, and by microRNAs as modulators of aging are discussed. Given that higher proportions of predicted microRNA target sites exist in the transcripts encoding disordered proteins, and that intrinsically disordered proteins are associated with age-related diseases (cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases), the study of protein disorder in aging deserves to be investigated.