Telomere dynamics, stress and aging in an extremophile fish.

Stress may affect the health and lifespan of individuals by shortening telomeres,
which in turn induces chromosomal instability. Telomere shortening predicts
numerous diseases and may be a biomarker of aging. At the same time,
telomere length and telomerase activity are crucial for the initiation of most
cancers and the survival of tumors. There is growing interest in understanding
telomere dynamics in non-human species.
This project will investigate telomere dynamics in Alcolapia cichlid fishes which
live in East Africa’s soda lakes Natron and Magadi. These fishes have evolved
rapidly to survive in extreme aquatic conditions of high pH (8.8-10.2), high
salinity and high temperatures (30-430C); some of the most hostile aquatic
environments known to support teleost fishes. In spite of such a stressful
environment and accompanying high metabolic rates, these fishes show no
obvious signs of accelerated senescence, making it a useful model in which to
study stress-related aging and the role of telomeres in this process.
This project offers the novel opportunity to investigate telomere dynamics in an
extremophile fish using a combination of bioinformatics tools, molecular methods
for gene expression, and genome editing via CRISPR/Cas9.