Rapa-FCA

Rapamycin Fly Cell Atlas

Rapamycin Fly Cell Atlas Reveals Sex-Specific Mitigation of a Convergent Aging Trajectory (CAT)

Rapamycin extends lifespan across species, yet its cell-type-specific benefits and vulnerabilities remain unclear at whole-organism scale. Here, we present the Rapamycin Fly Cell Atlas (Rapa-FCA), a whole-organism single-nucleus transcriptomic atlas of Drosophila spanning both sexes, multiple ages, 18 cell classes, and 181 cell types. Rapamycin elicited a highly heterogeneous response, with prominent effects in reproductive, digestive, and neuromuscular systems and modest responses in most neuronal populations. Across diverse tissues, we identified a rapamycin-sensitive Convergent Aging Trajectory (CAT), marked by Fkbp12 enrichment and mTORC1-linked metabolic programs, including glycolysis and lipid synthesis. CAT-high nuclei accumulated with age and were preferentially reduced by rapamycin, especially in females, consistent with stronger female lifespan extension. By integrating CAT abundance, aging-clock predictions, and nucleus-ratio changes, we mapped sex- and cell-type-specific geroprotection effects of rapamycin. Together, the Rapa-FCA provides an organism-wide framework for resolving how rapamycin reshapes cellular aging across sex, tissue, and cellular state.

data portal – visualize and analyze the data with CELLxGENE [link]
tool: how to use CELLxGENE? [link1][link2]

raw and annotated h5ad files to download:
NCBI/GEO (GSE322571).

preprint:
TC Lu, CY Liang et al., Rapamycin Fly Cell Atlas Reveals Sex-Specific Mitigation of a Convergent Aging Trajectory. [link] 

contact: hongjie.li@bcm.edu