Is poly(A) tail length altered by aging or dietary restriction?

We examined age- and diet-related alterations in RNA poly(A) tail length using high-resolution gel electrophoresis followed by Northern hybridization. The results demonstrate conclusively that there is no age-related decrease in the size of the Poly(A) tail of RNA isolated from the male Fischer 344 rat. In contrast, our results suggest that there is actually a slight age-related increase in the length of the poly(A) tail isolated from the liver and hypothalamus of these rats. Dietary restriction did not affect either poly(A) tail length or its age-related increase. These data demonstrate conclusively that oligo(dT) probes can be used to standardize RNA hybridization experiments between animals of different ages and dietary groups. In addition, these data provide further evidence that the ratio between RNA polymerase I and RNA polymerase II activity does not change with age.