MOSAIC: a longitudinal phenotypic clock to dissect organismal aging trajectories in <i>C. elegans</i>

), a non-invasive phenotypic clock that estimates biological age longitudinally at single-organism resolution. Leveraging ∼3'750 animals, ∼230'000 observations and 29 phenotypic features, MOSAIC predicts biological age with high accuracy and resolves organism-wide aging trajectories at high temporal resolution. Beyond age prediction, MOSAIC decomposes biological age into contributions from distinct physiological modules, enabling mechanistic interpretation of organismal decline. Applying MOSAIC to natural lifespan variation, dietary restriction, longevity mutants and pharmacological interventions reveals that lifespan extension can emerge through distinct, time-dependent phenotypic trajectories rather than a uniform slowing of aging. Interventions with similar effects on longevity produce divergent biological-age trajectories and distinct combinations of younger and older traits, highlighting context-dependent physiological trade-offs. MOSAIC provides a scalable, non-invasive framework to repeatedly quantify biological age across the lifespan and to compare interventions based on how they reshape aging trajectories.

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Publication Details

Journal
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
Published
2026-04-27
DOI
https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.04.23.720365
Primary Topic
Genetics, Aging, and Longevity in Model Organisms
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

MOSAIC: a longitudinal phenotypic clock to dissect organismal aging trajectories in C. elegans

Myriam Chimen, Mathieu Membrez, Lina Verbakel, Laurent Mouchiroud et al.
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
Genetics, Aging, and Longevity in Model Organisms
article

MOSAIC: a longitudinal phenotypic clock to dissect organismal aging trajectories in C. elegans

Myriam Chimen, Mathieu Membrez, Lina Verbakel, Laurent Mouchiroud, Florence Solari, Matteo Cornaglia, Marie Pierron, Morgane Bourgeois, Alexandre Pierre Vaudano, Lazar Stojkovic, Christopher Neal
article en

Abstract

), a non-invasive phenotypic clock that estimates biological age longitudinally at single-organism resolution. Leveraging ∼3'750 animals, ∼230'000 observations and 29 phenotypic features, MOSAIC predicts biological age with high accuracy and resolves organism-wide aging trajectories at high temporal resolution. Beyond age prediction, MOSAIC decomposes biological age into contributions from distinct physiological modules, enabling mechanistic interpretation of organismal decline. Applying MOSAIC to natural lifespan variation, dietary restriction, longevity mutants and pharmacological interventions reveals that lifespan extension can emerge through distinct, time-dependent phenotypic trajectories rather than a uniform slowing of aging. Interventions with similar effects on longevity produce divergent biological-age trajectories and distinct combinations of younger and older traits, highlighting context-dependent physiological trade-offs. MOSAIC provides a scalable, non-invasive framework to repeatedly quantify biological age across the lifespan and to compare interventions based on how they reshape aging trajectories.

bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (FR), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), Inserm (FR), Nestlé (Switzerland) (CH), ESI Group (Switzerland) (CH), Institut NeuroMyoGène (FR)
Agence Nationale de la Recherche
Openalex Percentile: Top 18%
Genetics, Aging, and Longevity in Model Organisms
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