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Phospholipid metabolism, including phosphatidylcholine (PC) biosynthesis, is crucial for various biological functions and is associated with longevity. Phosphatidylethanolamine N-methyltransferase (PEMT) is a protein that catalyzes the biosynthesis of PC, the levels of which change in various organs such as the brain and kidneys during aging. However, the role of PEMT for systemic PC supply is not fully understood. To address how PEMT affects aging-associated energy metabolism in tissues responsible for nutrient absorption, lipid storage, and energy consumption, we employed NMR-based metabolomics to study the liver, plasma, intestine (duodenum, jejunum, and ileum), brown/white adipose tissues (BAT and WAT), and skeletal muscle of young (9–10 weeks) and old (91–132 weeks) wild-type (WT) and PEMT knockout (KO) mice. We found that the effect of PEMT-knockout was tissue-specific and age-dependent. A deficiency of PEMT affected the metabolome of all tissues examined, among which the metabolome of BAT from both young and aged KO mice was dramatically changed in comparison to the WT mice, whereas the metabolome of the jejunum was only slightly affected. As for aging, the absence of PEMT increased the divergence of the metabolome during the aging of the liver, WAT, duodenum, and ileum and decreased the impact on skeletal muscle. Overall, our results suggest that PEMT plays a previously underexplored, critical role in both aging and energy metabolism.

The dysregulation of cellular metabolism is a hallmark of ageing. To understand the metabolic changes that occur as a consequence of the ageing process and to find biomarkers for age-related diseases, we conducted metabolomic analyses of the brain, heart, kidney, liver, lung and spleen in young (9–10 weeks) and old (96–104 weeks) wild-type mice [mixed genetic background of 129/J and C57BL/6] using NMR spectroscopy. We found differences in the metabolic fingerprints of all tissues and distinguished several metabolites to be altered in most tissues, suggesting that they may be universal biomarkers of ageing. In addition, we found distinct tissue-clustered sets of metabolites throughout the organism. The associated metabolic changes may reveal novel therapeutic targets for the treatment of ageing and age-related diseases. Moreover, the identified metabolite biomarkers could provide a sensitive molecular read-out to determine the age of biologic tissues and organs and to validate the effectiveness and potential off-target effects of senolytic drug candidates on both a systemic and tissue-specific level.