Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing, 50931 Cologne, Germany.
CECAD, University of Cologne, 50931 Cologne, Germany.
J Exp Biol. 2020 Feb 7;223(Pt Suppl 1):jeb209296. doi: 10.1242/jeb.209296.
Lifespan is a remarkably diverse trait in nature, ranging from just hours in adult mayflies to hundreds of years in the Greenland shark and quahog clam. Great disparities in lifespan are often observed even among somewhat closely related species; for example, in the laboratory, wild-derived strains of the common house mouse have a maximum observed lifespan of approximately 6 years, while a similarly sized rodent, the naked mole rat, can live for over 30 years. Comparative biology of aging across the tree of life provides a tremendous opportunity for understanding the molecular and genetic basis underlying lifespan and aging. However, a lack of molecular and laboratory tools has limited the ability of researchers to take full advantage of the incredible diversity of aging phenotypes in nature. Recent developments in genomic technology have made it increasingly possible to study non-canonical model organisms for aging. One promising new genetic model organism amenable to a range of experimental interventions is the turquoise killifish (). This fish species has a naturally short lifespan and undergoes a wide range of aging-related transformations. These fish have a fully sequenced genome and transcriptome, and killifish embryos are accessible to transgenesis and genome editing. Furthermore, different killifish species and populations show striking differences in lifespan, providing the opportunity for comparative analysis of aging. This Review introduces the natural life history of the turquoise killifish, its emerging applicability as an aging model system, the genetic tools that have been developed to study aging for this species and a summary of recent studies facilitated by these new tools.
寿命是自然界中一个非常多样化的特征，从成年蜉蝣的几个小时到格陵兰鲨鱼和圆蛤的数百年不等。即使是在某些密切相关的物种中，也经常观察到寿命的巨大差异；例如，在实验室中，野生型普通家鼠的最大观察寿命约为 6 年，而体型相似的啮齿动物裸鼹鼠则可以活 30 多年。对生命之树中衰老的比较生物学为理解寿命和衰老的分子和遗传基础提供了巨大的机会。然而，缺乏分子和实验室工具限制了研究人员充分利用自然界中令人难以置信的衰老表型多样性的能力。基因组技术的最新发展使得研究非典型衰老模式生物的可能性越来越大。一种有前途的新遗传模式生物，适用于一系列实验干预，是绿松石色的食蚊鱼（）。这种鱼类的寿命自然很短，并经历了广泛的与衰老相关的转变。这些鱼有一个完全测序的基因组和转录组，并且食蚊鱼胚胎可以进行转基因和基因组编辑。此外，不同的食蚊鱼物种和种群在寿命上表现出显著的差异，为衰老的比较分析提供了机会。这篇综述介绍了绿松石色食蚊鱼的自然生活史，它作为衰老模型系统的新兴适用性，以及为研究该物种衰老而开发的遗传工具，以及最近利用这些新工具进行的研究总结。
