Abstract
Telomere shortening plays a crucial, yet unclear, role in aging. This proposal aims to redefine our understanding of aging by proposing a cascade of organ communication through time. Given different tissue turnover rates, short telomeres in specific organs initiate a chain of events that spreads across the organism. I will argue that the gut is an initiator organ and the immune system an amplifier for systemic aging.
Like humans, zebrafish experience short telomeres in proliferative organs, causing decreased cell proliferation, tissue damage and organ function decline. In contrast to long-telomere mice, zebrafish naturally undergoes critical telomere shortening during its lifetime, causing aging phenotypes. This makes zebrafish a more relevant physiological model to study the consequences of telomere shortening with age. Our data show damaged short telomeres in the gut earlier than other tissues, with increased senescence, permeability and microbiota dysbiosis. Critically short telomeres cause genome instability and activate the cGAS-STING pathways and Type I inflammation, further contributing to cell senescence and gut dysbiosis.
More information:
IRCAN - Institute for Research on Cancer and Aging of Nice; Universität Côte d’Azur
Talk: Organ Communication in Aging of Zebrafish
Speaker: Miguel Goinho Ferreira
Institute for Research on Cancer and Aging, Nice (IRCAN), University Côte d’Azur
When: Wednesday, January 14, 2026, 1 pm
Where: Seminar room, „Nucleus“, FLI 1, Beutenbergstraße 11, Jena
Host: Prof. Dr. Dario R. Valenzano
The Seminar will be held as an in-person event.
