Developers
Matej Polačik, Radim Blažek, Martin Reichard.
Description of the technology
Turquoise killifish, Nothobranchius furzeri, is a species of aplocheilid fish (Aplocheilidae). It has an intrinsically short life span, with a median life span of <6 months and a maximum (90%) life span of 9 months. This short life span is unique among vertebrates. It evolved naturally and has resulted in N. furzeri becoming a widely used laboratory model species in aging research and other disciplines.
The technology proposes a protocol for the maintenance and breeding of the species under laboratory conditions. The protocol describes details for egg incubation, hatching, everyday care of juvenile and adult fish, breeding and treatment of most common diseases. Emphasis is given to the fact that the requirements of N. furzeri substantially differ from those of other fish model taxa; N. furzeri live brief lives and in nature undergo nonaquatic embryo development, with consequences for their laboratory culture. Eggs are incubated in a damp environment (and can be easily shipped at this stage) and synchronized hatching of experimental cohorts can be achieved when the eggs are wetted. Upon hatching, maturity is reached in <3 weeks.
Practical application
The technology provides a use of N. furzeri in aging research. This model object was successfully used for this aim in past periods (
Other applications that used laboratory breeding of N. furzeri include description of histopathologies of occurrence of tumors, demonstration of
Thus, renewal use of N. furzeri for ageing studies could be very promising.
Laboratories
- Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Brno (Czech Republic)
Links
http://www.nature.com/nprot/journal/v11/n8/full/nprot.2016.080.htmlPublications
- Polačik, M. et al. «Laboratory breeding of the
short-lived annual killifish Nothobranchius furzeri." 11 Nature Protocols, (2016): 1396–1413. - Cellerino, A., Valenzano, D.R. & Reichard, M. «From the bush to the bench: the annual Nothobranchius fishes as a new model system in biology." 91 Biol. Rev. (2016): 511–533.
- Blažek, R., Polačik, M. & Reichard, M. «Rapid growth, early maturation and short generation time in African annual fishes." 4 EvoDevo, (2013): 24.