Biology subjects

Metge, F.

Publications and source records attributed to Metge, F..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2019

Circular RNAs in the ageing African turquoise killifish

CircRNAs are a subgroup of RNAs which form a circular molecule. During the splicing process the 3 splice donor loops back to form a covalent bond with an upstream 5 splice acceptor instead of the downstream 5 acceptor. The majority of circRNAs are non-coding splice isoforms of protein coding genes showing tissue and time specific expression. Because circRNAs have no 5 cap nor 3 poly-A tail, they degrade slower than their linear host genes. Only few studies were able to show a specific function for circRNAs.\n\nIn this work we sequenced 23 samples from three tissues (brain, muscle, and gut) at three (two for gut) time points throughout the life of the naturally short-lived African turquoise killifish (Nothobranchius furzeri). We identified 1810 unique circRNAs, half of which are conserved with humans and mice. With this study we provide a comprehensive atlas to the circRNA landscape in the ageing African turquoise killifish, which serves as a novel resource to the circRNA as well as the ageing community.

genomics↗

bioRxiv2018

AGEpy: a Python package for computational biology

SummaryAGEpy is a Python package focused on the transformation of interpretable data into biological meaning. It is designed to support high-throughput analysis of pre-processed biological data using either local Python based processing or Python based API calls to local or remote servers. In this application note we describe its different Python modules as well as its command line accessible tools aDiff, abed, blasto, david, and obo2tsv.\n\nAvailabilityThe open source AGEpy Python package is freely available at: https://github.com/mpg-age-bioinformatics/AGEpy.\n\nContactjorge.boucas@age.mpg.de

bioinformatics↗

bioRxiv2017

Regulation of Life Span by the Gut Microbiota in The Short-Lived African Turquoise Killifish

Gut bacteria occupy the interface between the organism and the external environment, contributing to homeostasis and disease. Yet, the causal role of the gut microbiota during host aging is largely unexplored. Here, using the African turquoise killifish (Nothobranchius furzeri), a naturally short-lived vertebrate, we show that the gut microbiota plays a key role in modulating vertebrate life span. Recolonizing the gut of middle-age individuals with bacteria from young donors resulted in life span extension and delayed behavioral decline. This intervention prevented the decrease in microbial diversity associated with host aging and maintained a young-like gut bacterial community, characterized by overrepresentation of the key genera Exiguobacterium, Planococcus, Propionigenium and Psychrobacter. Our findings demonstrate that the natural microbial gut community of young individuals can causally induce long-lasting beneficial systemic effects that lead to life span extension in a vertebrate model.

genomics↗