Preprint: genetic background shapes trajectory of organ-system decline in ageing Drosophila

A preprint posted to bioRxiv (10.64898/2026.09.14.750524v1) reports a systematic study of how genetic background shapes the trajectory of organ-system decline during ageing in Drosophila, using 19 lines from the Drosophila Genetics Reference Panel (DGRP).

Rather than relying solely on lifespan as a proxy for ageing — the conventional approach in model-organism genetics — the researchers repeatedly measured the function of five organ systems throughout each line's lifespan. They found that genotype has a significant influence on the rate and pattern of physiological decline, independent of its effect on total lifespan. Different genetic backgrounds produced distinct trajectories of organ-system deterioration, suggesting that the genetic architecture of ageing acts through multiple organ-specific mechanisms rather than a single shared process.

The work advocates for physiological decline measures as complementary or superior metrics to lifespan alone in ageing research, and provides a multi-organ framework for dissecting the genetics of biological ageing in a powerful model system. The findings are relevant to researchers in ageing genetics, quantitative genetics, and functional genomics. As a preprint, these results have not yet been peer-reviewed.