Methods of screening for genes and agents affecting cardiac function

Abstract

The relationship between aging and decreased cardiac function is well known. However, the human cardiac system is extremely complex and humans are very long-lived animals. Therefore, there is a need for simple models of the heart that can be rapidly tested over time. The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster has served as a valuable model-organism for the study of aging and is the first organism possessing a circulatory system to have its genome completely sequenced. The present inventor has found that maximal heart rate is significantly and reproducibly reduced with aging in Drosophila, analogous to observations in elderly humans. The present inventor has also described several other aspects of the cardiac physiology of young adult and aging Drosophila, including an age-associated increase in rhythm disturbances. The present invention contemplates methods for studying cardiac function in vivo in adult flies. More specifically, the present invention contemplates methods of screening for genes affecting age-associated changes in cardiac function and methods of screening for agents which can affect age-associated changes in cardiac function.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.