Longevity in Cave Animals

Lunghi, Enrico; Bilandžija, Helena

doi:10.3389/fevo.2022.874123

Cited by 16 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 86 publications

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“…DNA damage in the brain, ROS in the gut, and sleep loss are associated with aging [31,44,45]. While A. mexicanus cavefish have evolved many traits that would be detrimental to humans or other species there is evidence that they have also evolved metabolic and physiological resilience, enabling them to enjoy a similar or even extended lifespan compared to surface fish [32,46,47]. To examine the effects of long-term accumulation of DNA damage in the brain, elevated gut ROS, and sleep loss, we examined the transcriptional profiles of tissue in young and aged fish.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Consistent with this notion, cavefish have evolved a reduced metabolic rate and elevated metabolites associated with hypoxia and longevity [58]. Many of these features, such as reduced metabolic rate, are present in other long-lived organisms, including the naked mole-rat ( Heterocephalus glaber ) and the cave olm ( Proteus anguinus ) [46]. Comparing differences between surface fish and cavefish, or similarities between cavefish and other long-lived models, may provide a system to study resilience to biological stress.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Elevated DNA Damage without signs of aging in the short-sleeping Mexican Cavefish

Lloyd,

Xia,

Moore

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Dysregulation of sleep has widespread health consequences and represents an enormous health burden. Short-sleeping individuals are predisposed to the effects of neurodegeneration, suggesting a critical role for sleep in the maintenance of neuronal health. While the effects of sleep on cellular function are not completely understood, growing evidence has identified an association between sleep loss and DNA damage, raising the possibility that sleep facilitates efficient DNA repair. The Mexican tetra fish, Astyanax mexicanus provides a model to investigate the evolutionary basis for changes in sleep and the consequences of sleep loss. Multiple cave-adapted populations of these fish have evolved to sleep for substantially less time compared to surface populations of the same species without identifiable impacts on healthspan or longevity. To investigate whether the evolved sleep loss is associated with DNA damage and cellular stress, we compared the DNA Damage Response (DDR) and oxidative stress levels between A. mexicanus populations. We measured markers of chronic sleep loss and discovered elevated levels of the DNA damage marker gammaH2AX in the brain, and increased oxidative stress in the gut of cavefish, consistent with chronic sleep deprivation. Notably, we found that acute UV-induced DNA damage elicited an increase in sleep in surface fish but not in cavefish. On a transcriptional level, only the surface fish activated the photoreactivation repair pathway following UV damage. These findings suggest a reduction of the DDR in cavefish compared to surface fish that coincides with elevated DNA damage in cavefish. To examine DDR pathways at a cellular level, we created an embryonic fibroblast cell line from the two populations of A. mexicanus. We observed that both the DDR and DNA repair were diminished in the cavefish cells, corroborating the in vivo findings and suggesting that the acute response to DNA damage is lost in cavefish. To investigate the long-term impact of these changes, we compared the transcriptome in the brain and gut of aged surface fish and cavefish. Strikingly, many genes that are differentially expressed between young and old surface fish do not transcriptionally vary by age in cavefish. Taken together, these findings suggest that have developed resilience to sleep loss, despite possessing cellular hallmarks of chronic sleep deprivation.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Elevated DNA Damage without signs of aging in the short-sleeping Mexican Cavefish

Lloyd,

Xia,

Moore

et al. 2024

Preprint

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“…Aging is another area of research where cavefish are in demand. It is thought that animals from arrhythmic environments have a longer lifespan [ 45 , 46 , 47 ]. Data from cavefish evidence this suggestion.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cavefishes in Chronobiological Research: A Narrative Review

Павлова

Крылов

2023

Clocks & Sleep

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Cavefish are vertebrates living in extreme subterranean environments with no light, temperature changes, and limited food. Circadian rhythms in these fish are suppressed in natural habitats. However, they can be found in artificial light–dark cycles and other zeitgebers. The molecular circadian clock has its peculiarities in cavefish. In Astyanax mexicanus, the core clock mechanism is tonically repressed in the caves due to the overactivation of the light input pathway. A lack of functional light input pathway but rather the entrainment of circadian genes’ expression by scheduled feeding were revealed in more ancient Phreatichthys andruzzii. Different evolutionarily determined irregularities in the functioning of molecular circadian oscillators can be expected in other cavefish. The unique property of some species is the existence of surface and cave forms. Along with the ease of maintenance and breeding, it made cavefish a promising model for chronobiological studies. At the same time, a divergence of the circadian system between cavefish populations requires the strain of origin to be indicated in further research.

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“…Like extant organismal lineages, whose members thrive in very diverse environments and niches, members from ancestral organismal lineages from different clades and from different populations were not all exposed to the same ecological challenges during the course of evolution. For example, some organisms belong to lineages that can fly, while others can live in caves, or must face their predators on the ground (Lunghi and Bilandžija 2022). Similarly, some organisms are solitary, whereas other live in societies (Keller and Genoud 1997), and evolution of their longevities and ageing can thus be affected by social organisation and kin selection, etc.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Network analyses unveil ageing-associated pathways evolutionarily conserved from fungi to animals

et al. 2022

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The genetic roots of the diverse paces and shapes of ageing and of the large variations in longevity observed across the Tree of Life are poorly understood. Indeed, pathways associated with ageing/longevity are incompletely known, both in terms of their constitutive genes/proteins and of their molecular interactions. Moreover, there is limited overlap between the genes constituting these pathways across mammals. Yet, dedicated comparative analyses might still unravel evolutionarily conserved, important pathways associated with longevity or ageing. Here, we used an original strategy with a double evolutionary and systemic focus to analyse protein interactions associated with ageing or longevity during the evolution of five species of Opisthokonta. We ranked these proteins and interactions based on their evolutionary conservation and centrality in past and present protein-protein interaction networks (PPI), providing a big systemic picture of the evolution of ageing and longevity pathways, that identified which pathways emerged in which Opisthokonta lineages, were conserved and/or central. We confirmed that longevity/ageing associated proteins (LAPs), be they pro-or anti-longevity, are highly central in extant PPI, consistently with the Antagonistic Pleiotropy theory of ageing, and identified key antagonistic regulators of ageing/longevity, 52 of which with homologs in humans. While some highly central LAPs were evolutionarily conserved for over a billion years, we report a clear transition in the functionally important components of ageing/longevity within Bilaterians. We also predicted 487 novel evolutionarily conserved LAPs in humans, 54% of which are more central than mTOR, and 138 of which are druggable, defining new potential targets for anti-ageing treatments in humans.

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Longevity in Cave Animals

Cited by 16 publications

References 86 publications

Elevated DNA Damage without signs of aging in the short-sleeping Mexican Cavefish

Elevated DNA Damage without signs of aging in the short-sleeping Mexican Cavefish

Cavefishes in Chronobiological Research: A Narrative Review

Network analyses unveil ageing-associated pathways evolutionarily conserved from fungi to animals

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