Insights into aging mechanisms from comparative genomics in orange and silver roughies

Abstract

The demersal fish orange roughy (Hoplostethus atlanticus) can live for up to 250 years, twenty times more than its congener silver roughy (Hoplostethus mediterraneus). Studies of Hoplostethus have focused mainly on its ecology and conservation due to its vulnerability to commercial fishing. In this work, we present the de novo genomes of orange and silver roughies and explore the genomic mechanisms that could contribute to such differential longevities. Using comparative genomics on a list of more than 400 genes, we identified gene candidates with differential residue changes in Hoplostethus that are related to genomic instability, disabled macroautophagy and intercellular communication. We hypothesized that these mechanisms could have been selected as adaptations to the deep environment and, as an epiphenomenon of these mechanisms, may have contributed to an extension of the lifespan of H. atlanticus.