Phenotypic and molecular correlates of parallel evolution of diapause and aging in African annual killifish

• Applicant: Professor Alessandro Cellerino, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Evolution, Anthropology ; Biogerontology and Geriatric Medicine
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 511530279

The mechanisms of evolution are best studies in clades that independently evolve similar adaptations. At least three independent clades of Aplocheiloidei (killifishes) are adapted to ephemeral aquatic habitats cyclically generated by the monsoons and all show embryonic diapause and seasonal lifespan thereby representing a suitable model to investigate the molecular underpinnings of life-history traits evolution. The annual killifish Nothobranchius furzeri has become a laboratory model organism and is the shortest-lived vertebrate that can be cultured in captivity. Its genome is sequenced and transgenesis and genome-editing techniques are established and revealed new molecular mechanisms of diapause and aging. Therefore, annual killifishes represent unique models bridging evolutionary biology and biomedical sciences and molecular mechanisms can be identified by comparative analysis and then experimentally tested in N. furzeri. Among molecular mechanisms, regulation of RNA expression is the most widely investigated. However, proteins and not RNAs are the biologically active molecules. Global analysis of protein composition has been recently enabled by the advancement of mass-spectroscopy. By means of these technologies, we recently demonstrated 1) that protein and transcript regulation become uncoupled during N. furzeri aging. 2) that protein expression during aging and diapause are positively correletated and 3) that protein-transcript decoupling is prominent during diapause. The application has the objective to identify variation in protein expression that are associated into multiple clades with diapause and short lifespan.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Czech Republic
• Co-Investigator: Privatdozent Dr. Alessandro Ori
• Cooperation Partner: Privatdozent Dr. Radim Blazek