PUBLICATION

The transcript catalogue of the short-lived fish Nothobranchius furzeri provides insights into age-dependent changes of mRNA levels

Authors
Petzold, A., Reichwald, K., Groth, M., Taudien, S., Hartmann, N., Priebe, S., Shagin, D., Englert, C., and Platzer, M.
ID
ZDB-PUB-130405-2
Date
2013
Source
BMC Genomics   14: 185 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Englert, Christoph
Keywords
Nothobranchius furzeri, moel fish species, ageing, transcriptome assembly, transcript catalogue, gene expression, RNA-seq
MeSH Terms
  • Aging/genetics*
  • Animals
  • Cyprinodontiformes/genetics*
  • Cyprinodontiformes/physiology
  • Gene Expression Profiling
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental
  • Gene Library
  • High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing
  • Molecular Sequence Annotation
  • RNA, Messenger/genetics*
  • RNA, Messenger/physiology
  • Zebrafish/genetics
  • Zebrafish/growth & development
PubMed
23496936 Full text @ BMC Genomics
Abstract

Background

The African annual fish Nothobranchius furzeri has over recent years been established as a model species for ageing-related studies. This is mainly based on its exceptionally short lifespan and the presence of typical characteristics of vertebrate ageing. To substantiate its role as an alternative vertebrate ageing model, a transcript catalogue is needed, which can serve e.g. as basis for identifying ageing-related genes.

Results

To build the N. furzeri transcript catalogue, thirteen cDNA libraries were sequenced using Sanger, 454/Roche and Solexa/Illumina technologies yielding about 39 Gb. In total, 19,875 protein-coding genes were identified and annotated. Of these, 71% are represented by at least one transcript contig with a complete coding sequence. Further, transcript levels of young and old fish of the strains GRZ and MZM-0403, which differ in lifespan by twofold, were studied by RNA-seq. In skin and brain, 85 differentially expressed genes were detected; these have a role in cell cycle control and proliferation, inflammation and tissue maintenance. An RNA-seq experiment for zebrafish skin confirmed the ageing-related relevance of the findings in N. furzeri. Notably, analyses of transcript levels between zebrafish and N. furzeri but also between N. furzeri strains differed largely, suggesting that ageing is accelerated in the short-lived N. furzeri strain GRZ compared to the longer-lived strain MZM-0403.

Conclusions

We provide a comprehensive, annotated N. furzeri transcript catalogue and a first transcriptome-wide insight into N. furzeri ageing. This data will serve as a basis for future functional studies of ageing-related genes.

Genes / Markers
Figures
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping