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Home>Research>Subarea 3: Genetics and Epigenetics of Aging
Research focus of Subarea 3.

Subarea 3: Genetics and Epigenetics of Aging

The focus of Subarea 3 is on genetic and epigenetic determinants of life- and health span as well as aging in fish, rodents and humans. This line of research builds on the expertise of the institute in comparative and functional genomics.

The research is defined by five focus areas:

  • Comparative genomics in short- and long-lived models of aging,
  • Genomic engineering in N. furzeri,
  • Epigenetics of aging,
  • Non-coding RNAs in aging, and
  • Comparative transcriptomics of aging.

Research focus of Subarea 3.

To uncover causative factors for aging, comparative genomics in short- and long-lived model systems are applied. Functional genomics is used to identify novel pathways contribute to aging of an organism and to validate the functional relevance of genetic and epigenetic changes that occur during aging. Furthermore, genetic risk factors for aging-related diseases are identified and functionally tested. The future development of the Subarea aims to integrate changes in host-microbiota interactions during aging, and how these influence clonal mutation and epigenetic alterations through metabolites and other signals.

Publications

(since 2016)

2024

  • PAPAS promotes differentiation of mammary epithelial cells and suppresses breast carcinogenesis.
    Ren S, Bai F, Schnell V, Stanko C, Ritsch M, Schenk T, Barth E, Marz M, Wang B, Pei XH, Bierhoff H
    Cell Rep 2024, 43(1), 113644
  • Endogenous viral elements: insights into data availability and accessibility.
    Ritsch M, Brait N, Harvey E, Marz M, Lequime S
    Virus Evol 2024, 10(1), veae099
  • Endogenous Bornavirus-like Elements in Bats: Evolutionary Insights from the Conserved Riboviral L-Gene in Microbats and Its Antisense Transcription in Myotis daubentonii.
    Ritsch M, Eulenfeld T, Lamkiewicz K, Schoen A, Weber F, Hölzer** M, Marz** M
    Viruses 2024, 16(8), 1210 ** co-corresponding authors
  • Detection of reproducible liver cancer specific ligand-receptor signaling in blood.
    Safrastyan* ** A, Wollny* ** D
    Front Bioinform 2024, 4, 1332782 * equal contribution, ** co-senior authors
  • Autoantigen-specific CD4+ T cells acquire an exhausted phenotype and persist in human antigen-specific autoimmune diseases.
    Saggau C, Bacher P, Esser D, Rasa M, Meise S, Mohr N, Kohlstedt N, Hutloff A, Schacht SS, Dargvainiene J, Martini GR, Stürner KH, Schröder I, Markewitz R, Hartl J, Hastermann M, Duchow A, Schindler P, Becker M, Bautista C, Gottfreund J, Walter J, Polansky JK, Yang M, Naghavian R, Wendorff M, Schuster EM, Dahl A, Petzold A, Reinhardt S, Franke A, Wieczorek M, Henschel L, Berger D, Heine G, Holtsche M, Häußler V, Peters C, Schmidt E, Fillatreau S, Busch DH, Wandinger KP, Schober K, Martin R, Paul F, Leypoldt F, Scheffold A
    Immunity 2024, 57(10), 2416-32
  • The Greenland shark (Somniosus microcephalus) genome provides insights into extreme longevity
    Sahm A, Cherkasov* A, Liu* H, Voronov D, Siniuk K, Schwarz R, Ohlenschlaeger O, Foerste S, Bens M, Groth M, Goerlich I, Paturej S, Klages S, Braendl B, Olsen J, Bushnell P, Bech Poulsen A, Ferrando S, Garibaldi F, Lorenzo Drago D, Terzibasi Tozzini E, Mueller FJ, Fischer M, Kretzmer H, Domenici** P, Fleng Steffensen** J, Cellerino** A, Hoffmann** S
    bioRxiv 2024, 10.1101/2024.09.09.611499 * equal contribution, ** co-corresponding authors
  • Hydra has mammal-like mutation rates facilitating fast adaptation despite its nonaging phenotype.
    Sahm A, Riege K, Groth M, Bens M, Kraus J, Fischer M, Kestler H, Englert C, Schaible R, Platzer M, Hoffmann S
    Genome Res 2024, 34(12), 2217-28
  • Reducing the metabolic burden of rRNA synthesis promotes healthy longevity in Caenorhabditis elegans.
    Sharifi* S, Chaudhari* P, Martirosyan A, Eberhardt AO, Witt F, Gollowitzer A, Lange L, Woitzat Y, Okoli EM, Li H, Rahnis N, Kirkpatrick J, Werz O, Ori A, Koeberle A, Bierhoff** H, Ermolaeva** M
    Nat Commun 2024, 15(1), 1702 * equal contribution, ** co-corresponding authors
  • Tau mediates the reshaping of the transcriptional landscape toward intermediate Alzheimer's disease stages.
    Siano G, Varisco M, Terrigno M, Wang C, Scarlatti A, Iannone V, Groth M, Galas MC, Hoozemans JJM, Cellerino A, Cattaneo A, Di Primio C
    Front Cell Dev Biol 2024, 12, 1459573
  • Engineering extracellular vesicles to transiently permeabilize the blood-brain barrier.
    Tomatis F, Rosa S, Simões S, Barão M, Jesus C, Novo J, Barth E, Marz M, Ferreira L
    J Nanobiotechnology 2024, 22(1), 747