A vast body of studies is available that describe age-dependent gene expression in relation to aging in a number of different model species. These data were obtained from animals kept in conditions with reduced environmental challenges, abundant food, and deprivation of natural sensory stimulation. Here, we compared wild- and captive aging in the short-lived turquoise killifish (Nothobranchius furzeri). These fish inhabit temporary ponds in the African savannah. When the ponds are flooded, eggs hatch synchronously, enabling a precise timing of their individual and population age. We collected the brains of wild fish of different ages and quantified the global age-dependent regulation of transcripts using RNAseq. A major difference between captive and wild populations is that wild populations had unlimited access to food and hence grew to larger sizes and reached asymptotic size more rapidly, enabling the analysis of age-dependent gene expression without the confounding effect of adult brain growth. We found that the majority of differentially expressed genes show the same direction of regulation in wild and captive populations. However, a number of genes were regulated in opposite direction. Genes downregulated in the wild and upregulated in captivity were enriched for terms related to neuronal communication. Genes upregulated in the wild and downregulated in captive conditions were enriched in terms related to DNA replication. Finally, the rate of age-dependent gene regulation was higher in wild animals, suggesting a phenomenon of accelerated aging.

Biology of Ageing Leibniz Institute for Age Research Fritz Lipmann Institute e 5 Beutenbergstr 11 07745 Jena Germany

Department of Botany and Zoology Faculty of Science Masaryk University 611 37 Brno Czech Republic

Department of Ecology and Vertebrate Zoology University of Łódź 90 237 Łódź Poland

Institute of Vertebrate Biology Czech Academy of Sciences Květná 8 603 65 Brno Czech Republic

Scuola Normale Superiore Department of Neurosciences Piazza dei Cavalieri 7 56126 Pisa Italy

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