Table 2:

Metadata collection for aging “omics”

Variable	Sample-level recording
	Required	Optional
Biological sex	‐ Biological sex	‐ Sex hormone levels
Reproductive status	‐ Mating status	‐ Estropause/Menopause ‐ Estrus cycle phase (rodents)
Circadian effects	‐ Timeframe of euthanasia	‐ Day/light cycle of animal facility
Feeding and metabolism	‐ Chow ‐ Weight	‐ Fasting period
Genetics	‐ Strain and supplier
Pathology	‐ Gross pathological findings	‐ Pictures at euthanasia
Batch processing	‐ Sample set processing	‐ Euthanasia date ‐ Processing date
Collection scheme	‐ Synchronous or asynchronous for age groups	‐ Relatedness (if non inbred)
Replicates	‐ Number of animals per sample ‐ Labeling of technical replicates (if any)	‐ Additional per animal information if animals were pooled
Processing pipeline	‐ Software versions ‐ Genome build ‐ Code and processing scripts	‐ Intermediate processing files