The aim of this website is to provide information on the short-lived
killifish Nothobranchius furzeri and foster a group of
interest that employs this species as a vertebrate model for
developmental and aging research.
Nothobranchius furzeri has several characteristics that
make it a particularly attractive model to study biomedical aspects
of aging:
- The inbred line GRZ shows a captive lifespan of only up
to four months.
- There is large variation in life-history traits between
different natural populations and laboratory strains.
- Short- and longer-lived strains can be crossed and produce
viable offspring.
- Lifespan can be prolonged by environmental manipulations and
drugs.
- Tools for genetic manipulation such as transgenesis and
CRISPR/Cas9-mediated mutagenesis are available.
NFINgb - The N. furzeri Genome Browser
At FLI, we sequenced and annotated the
N. furzeri genome to
facilitate genome-wide analyses and the identification of molecular
factors determining the
N. furzeri life-span. We present a
high-quality draft sequence of the inbred GRZ strain. The assembly
comprises 1.24Gb (N50: 57Mb), of which we assigned 87% (1.08Gb,
N50: 64Mb) to 19 putative chromosomes. At
NFINgb, you can explore
the annotated
N. furzeri genome.
To analyze genetic variation at genome-wide scale, at FLI we sequenced
the genomes of further specimens of short- and longer-lived
N. furzeri strains (GRZ, MZM-0403, MZM-0410 and MZZW-0701).
NFINgb provides access
to these variation data.
Reference: Reichwald, Petzold, Koch, Downie, Hartmann, ...,
Cellerino, Englert, Platzer: Insights into Sex Chromosome Evolution
and Aging from the Genome of a Short-Lived Fish. Cell 2015,
163:1527-1538 (
see abstract).
At Stanford, we de-novo assembled, annotated and analyzed the
genome of the GRZ inbred strain to ~80x coverage to understand the
evolution and genetic architecture of longevity in this species.
We also sequenced additional strains of this fish to identify SNPs
and variants. Here, you can explore the draft killifish genome,
browse genetic variation, histone marks and other genomic features.
Reference: Valenzano, Benayoun, Singh, ..., Brunet: The African
Turquoise Killifish Genome Provides Insights into Evolution and
Genetic Architecture of Lifespan. Cell 2015, 163:1539-1554
(
see abstract).
NFINtb - The N. furzeri Transcriptome Browser
At FLI, we sequenced normalized and non-normalized cDNA libraries using
Sanger, Roche and Illumina technologies. We identified and
annotated 19,875 protein-coding genes. Of these, 71% are
represented by at least one transcript contig with a complete coding
sequence. The NFINtb
provides these data, plus comparisons to medaka, stickleback,
tetraodon and zebrafish. It serves as a reference for expression
analyses, e.g. young vs. old fish, and studying molecular,
biochemical and evolutionary aspects of aging in N. furzeri.
Reference: Petzold et al. BMC Genomics 2013, 14:185 (//www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2164/14/185)
last update of this page: February 28, 2023
NFIN - The Nothobranchius furzeri Information Network - www.nothobranchius.info - hosted at
