Comparative analysis of metabolic and transcriptomic features of Nothobranchius furzeri

Maria Rita Fumagalli
Institute of Biophysics, CNR, CC&B, University of Milan

Some species have a longer lifespan than others, but usually the lifespan is correlated with the typical body weight. Here, we study the lifetime evolution of the metabolic behavior of Nothobranchius furzeri (N. furzeri), a killifish with an extremely short lifespan with respect to other fishes, even when considering a proper rescaling by body weight. Comparison of the gene expression patterns of N. furzeri with those of zebrafish D. rerio and mouse (M. musculus), shows that a broad set of metabolic genes and pathways are deregulated in N. furzeri during aging in a way that is consistent with a global opening of the chromatin. Computational analysis of the glycolysis pathway for the three species highlights a much rapid increase in the metabolic activity during lifetime for N. furzeri with respect to the other species. Our results highlight that the unusually short lifespan of N. furzeri is associated to peculiar patterns in the metabolic activities and in chromatin dynamics.