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)

2017

  • How the Wilms tumor suppressor gene Wt1 affects interneurons in the central nervous system
    Schnerwitzki D
    Dissertation 2017, Jena, Germany
  • Cell autonomous expression of CXCL-10 in JAK2V617F-mutated MPN.
    Schnöder TM, Eberhardt J, Koehler M, Bierhoff HB, Weinert S, Pandey AD, Nimmagadda SC, Wolleschak D, Jöhrens K, Fischer T, Heidel FH
    J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 2017, 143(5), 807-20
  • Candidate Brocadiales dominates C, N and S cycling in anoxic groundwater of a pristine limestone-fracture aquifer.
    Starke R, Müller M, Gaspar M, Marz M, Küsel K, Totsche KU, von Bergen M, Jehmlich N
    J PROTEOMICS 2017, 152, 153-60
  • Rictor/mTORC2 deficiency enhances keratinocyte stress tolerance via mitohormesis.
    Tassone B, Saoncella S, Neri F, Ala U, Brusa D, Magnuson MA, Provero P, Oliviero S, Riganti C, Calautti E
    Cell Death Differ 2017, 24(4), 731-46 published during change of institution
  • Nucleosome Positioning Assay
    Zhao Z, Bierhoff H
    Bio-protocol 2017, 7(10), e2285

2016

  • The Evolution of COP9 Signalosome in Unicellular and Multicellular Organisms.
    Barth E, Hübler R, Baniahmad** A, Marz** M
    Genome Biol Evol 2016, 8(4), 1279-89 ** co-corresponding authors
  • Fluorescence-Activated Cell Sorting (FACS) Protocol for Podocyte Isolation in Adult Zebrafish.
    Bates TJD, Naumann U, Englert C
    In: The Wilms' Tumor (WT1) Gene, Methods and Protocols (edited by Nicholas Hastie), Methods in Molecular Biology 2016, 133-6, Springer New York, New Yo
  • Longitudinal RNA-Seq Analysis of Vertebrate Aging Identifies Mitochondrial Complex I as a Small-Molecule-Sensitive Modifier of Lifespan.
    Baumgart* M, Priebe* S, Groth* M, Hartmann* N, Menzel U, Pandolfini L, Koch P, Felder M, Ristow M, Englert C, Guthke R, Platzer M, Cellerino A
    Cell Syst 2016, 2(2), 122-32 * equal contribution
  • Multiplex sequencing of bacterial artificial chromosomes for assembling complex plant genomes.
    Beier S, Himmelbach A, Schmutzer T, Felder M, Taudien S, Mayer KFX, Platzer M, Stein N, Scholz U, Mascher M
    Plant Biotechnol J 2016, 14(7), 1511-22
  • FRAMA: from RNA-seq data to annotated mRNA assemblies.
    Bens M, Sahm A, Groth M, Jahn N, Morhart M, Holtze S, Hildebrandt TB, Platzer M, Szafranski K
    BMC Genomics 2016, 17(1), 54