Fig. 6

Functional assessments of aging-related genes in locusts. a Expression patterns of hub genes common to at least two networks. The heatmap on the left illustrates whether the gene is the hub gene of the corresponding network. The presence and absence are denoted by red and empty, respectively. The functional categories of genes are shown on the left. Four heatmaps on the right show the relative expression levels of the corresponding genes upon aging in the four organs. The high and low expression levels of each gene are marked in red and green, respectively. b Relative mRNA expression levels of four representative genes during aging across the four organs based on transcriptome data. c Lifespan effects of the knockdown of the selected genes. Blue and red boxplots refer to the lifespan of locusts treated with dsGFP or dsRNAs for the selected genes, respectively. The center line of the boxplots represents median value, and the bounds of the box represent the 75th and the 25th percentiles. The P-values examined via the Mantel–Cox tests are annotated on the right. d Flight performance assessment after LIPT1 knockdown. The P-values evaluated via Student’s t test are annotated. e The level of acetyl-CoA in flight muscle during aging and after LIPT1 knockdown. Significant differences are revealed using one-way ANOVA, P < 0.05 (left) and Student’s t test, *P < 0.05 (right)