Subarea 3: Genetics and Epigenetics of Aging

The focus of Subarea 3 is on genetic and epigenetic determinants of life- and health span as well as aging in fish, rodents and humans. This line of research builds on the expertise of the institute in comparative and functional genomics.

The research is defined by five focus areas:

  • Comparative genomics in short- and long-lived models of aging,
  • Genomic engineering in N. furzeri,
  • Epigenetics of aging,
  • Non-coding RNAs in aging, and
  • Comparative transcriptomics of aging.

Research focus of Subarea 3.

To uncover causative factors for aging, comparative genomics in short- and long-lived model systems are applied. Functional genomics is used to identify novel pathways contribute to aging of an organism and to validate the functional relevance of genetic and epigenetic changes that occur during aging. Furthermore, genetic risk factors for aging-related diseases are identified and functionally tested. The future development of the Subarea aims to integrate changes in host-microbiota interactions during aging, and how these influence clonal mutation and epigenetic alterations through metabolites and other signals.

Publications

(since 2016)

2021

  • A marine Chlamydomonas sp. emerging as an algal model.
    Carrasco Flores D, Fricke M, Wesp V, Desirò D, Kniewasser A, Hölzer M, Marz M, Mittag M
    J Phycol 2021, 57(1), 54-69
  • The economical lifestyle of CPR bacteria in groundwater allows little preference for environmental drivers.
    Chaudhari NM, Overholt WA, Figueroa-Gonzalez PA, Taubert M, Bornemann TLV, Probst AJ, Hölzer M, Marz M, Küsel K
    Environ Microbiome 2021, 16(1), 24
  • EpiDope: A Deep Neural Network for linear B-cell epitope prediction.
    Collatz M, Mock F, Barth E, Hölzer M, Sachse K, Marz M
    Bioinformatics 2021, 37(4), 448-55
  • Iron Oxide Nanoparticles Carrying 5-Fluorouracil in Combination with Magnetic Hyperthermia Induce Thrombogenic Collagen Fibers, Cellular Stress, and Immune Responses in Heterotopic Human Colon Cancer in Mice.
    Dabaghi M, Rasa SMM, Cirri E, Ori A, Neri F, Quaas R, Hilger I
    Pharmaceutics 2021, 13(10)
  • Anti-Proliferative and Apoptotic Effect of Gemini Curcumin in p53-Wild Type and p53-Mutant Colorectal Cancer Cell Lines.
    Ebrahimi M, Babaei E, Neri F, Ali Hosseinpour Feizi M
    Int J Pharm 2021, 601, 120592
  • Establishment of a fluorescent reporter of RNA-polymerase II activity to identify dormant cells
    Freter R, Falletta P, Omrani O, Rasa M, Herbert K, Annunziata F, Minetti A, Krepelova A, Adam L, Käppel S, Rüdiger T, Wang ZQ, Goding** CR, Neri** F
    Nat Commun 2021, 12(1), 3318 ** co-corresponding authors
  • ITN-VIROINF: Understanding (Harmful) Virus-Host Interactions by Linking Virology and Bioinformatics.
    Goettsch W, Beerenwinkel** N, Deng** L, Dölken** L, Dutilh** BE, Erhard** F, Kaderali** L, von Kleist** M, Marquet R, Matthijnssens** J, McCallin S, McMahon** D, Rattei T, Van Rij** RP, Robertson** DL, Schwemmle** M, Stern-Ginossar N, Marz** M
    Viruses 2021, 13(5) ** co-corresponding authors
  • RNA:DNA triple helices: from peculiar structures to pervasive chromatin regulators.
    Greifenstein* AA, Jo* S, Bierhoff H
    Essays Biochem 2021, 65(4), 731-40 * equal contribution
  • Regeneration in starved planarians depends on TRiC/CCT subunits modulating the unfolded protein response.
    Gutiérrez-Gutiérrez* Ó, Felix* DA, Salvetti A, Amro EM, Thems A, Pietsch S, Koeberle A, Rudolph KL, González-Estévez C
    EMBO Rep 2021, 22(8), e52905 * equal contribution
  • Alternative Animal Models of Aging Research
    Holtze S, Gorshkova E, Braude S, Cellerino A, Dammann P, Hildebrandt TB, Hoeflich A, Hoffmann S, Koch P, Terzibasi Tozzini E, Skulachev M, Skulachev VP, Sahm A
    Front Mol Biosci 2021, 8, doi: 10.3389/fmolb.2021.660959.