AnAge entry for Nothobranchius furzeri

Classification (HAGRID: 03620)

Taxonomy: Kingdom: Animalia
    Phylum: Chordata
        Class: Teleostei
            Order: Cyprinodontiformes
                Family: Aplocheilidae
                    Genus: Nothobranchius (Taxon entry)
Species: Nothobranchius furzeri
Common name: Turquoise killifish

Lifespan, ageing, and relevant traits

Maximum longevity

1.1 years (captivity)

Source

ref. 1120

Sample size

Large

Data quality

Acceptable

Observations

The turquoise killifish is an extremely short-lived animal that shows an accelerated ageing process. Compared with similar species, these animals also mature earlier and grow quicker [0663]. They are the shortest-lived vertebrate species bred in the lab [1197]. Large differences in ageing phenotypes have been observed between strains with maximum lifespan in a laboratory strain reportedly of 32 weeks [0889]. However, wild-derived populations can live over one year in the lab [1120]. Differences in lifespan between strains have been genetically linked to sex [1227]. The sex chromosomes of turquoise killifish display features of early mammalian XY evolution [1228].

Ageing turquoise killifish show reduced learning performances, gliosis and reduced adult neurogenesis. One study demonstrated that as these animals age neurogenesis and extracellular matrix genes rapidly decay in the brain and synaptic and axonal genes progressively decay [1198]. Genes related to ageing are clustered in specific regions of the genome [1228]. Telomerase deficient turquoise killifish display the fastest onset of telomere related pathologies among vertebrates [1197].

Life history traits (averages)

: No information is available on life history. Please contact us if you wish to suggest or contribute data.

Metabolism

No information on metabolism is available.

References

[1272] Blazek et al. (2017), Repeated intraspecific divergence in life span and aging of African annual fishes along an aridity gradient (PubMed)
[1259] Harel et al. (2016), Efficient genome engineering approaches for the short-lived African turquoise killifish (PubMed)
[1227] Valenzano et al. (2015), The African Turquoise Killifish Genome Provides Insights into Evolution and Genetic Architecture of Lifespan (PubMed)
[1228] Reichwald et al. (2015), Insights into Sex Chromosome Evolution and Aging from the Genome of a Short-Lived Fish (PubMed)
[1197] Harel et al. (2015), A platform for rapid exploration of aging and diseases in a naturally short-lived vertebrate (PubMed)
[1198] Baumgart et al. (2014), RNA-seq of the aging brain in the short-lived fish N. furzeri - conserved pathways and novel genes associated with neurogenesis (PubMed)
[1120] Tozzini et al. (2013), Parallel evolution of senescence in annual fishes in response to extrinsic mortality (PubMed)
[1113] Graf et al. (2013), Absence of replicative senescence in cultured cells from the short-lived killifish Nothobranchius furzeri (PubMed)
[0929] Di Cicco et al. (2011), The short-lived annual fish Nothobranchius furzeri shows a typical teleost aging process reinforced by high incidence of age-dependent neoplasias (PubMed)
[0933] Hartmann et al. (2009), Telomeres shorten while Tert expression increases during ageing of the short-lived fish Nothobranchius furzeri (PubMed)
[0889] Terzibasi et al. (2008), Large differences in aging phenotype between strains of the short-lived annual fish Nothobranchius furzeri (PubMed)
[0654] Genade et al. (2005), Annual fishes of the genus Nothobranchius as a model system for aging research (PubMed)
[0663] Valdesalici and Cellerino (2003), Extremely short lifespan in the annual fish Nothobranchius furzeri (PubMed)
[0832] NFIN - The Nothobranchius furzeri Information Network

External Resources

Integrated Taxonomic Information System: ITIS 647428
Animal Diversity Web: ADW account (if available)
Encyclopaedia of Life: Search EOL
NCBI Taxonomy: Taxonomy ID 105023
Entrez: Search all databases
Ageing Literature: Search Google Scholar or Search PubMed
Images: Google Image search
Internet: Search Google