Analysis of different strains of the turquoise killifish Nothobranchius furzeri identifies transcriptomic signatures associated with heritable lifespan differences

The killifish Nothobranchius furzeri is the shortest-lived vertebrate model organism and is characterized by laboratory strains differing in lifespan by more than a factor of two. The genetic architecture underlying this difference is complex and the pathways responsive remain elusive. We performed an analysis in N. furzeri of public transcritomic datasets comprehensive of four different tissues and one embryonic stage in two strains: the shorter-lived GRZ and the longer-lived MZM0410. Remarkably, the two strains differ in their transcriptome profile already at the embryonic stage. The short-lived strain GRZ shows an anticipated aging profile consistently in all tissues investigated, with differences in expression of aging-related genes detected already at sexual maturity. In addition, analysis of a longitudinal dataset revealed that genes whose expression is prognostic of longer lifespan at the individual level are also differentially expressed between strains at an early adult age, suggesting antagonistic pleiotropism.