Abstract
Age is the greatest risk factor for most diseases, including neurodegeneration and cancer. The search for mechanisms that connect aging and diseases has been hampered by the fact that mice live 2–3 years and zebrafish live 5–6 years. To address this challenge, we have pioneered the short-lived African killifish as a new organism for modeling vertebrate aging. The killifish lives in ephemeral pools in Africa, and it has evolved a short lifespan adapted to this transient habitat. In laboratory conditions, the killifish has a maximal lifespan of about 4–6 months. Importantly, this fish shows signs of aging and age-related diseases. We have successfully transformed the killifish into a model organism for aging. We sequenced its genome and developed a pipeline for genome-editing. Using this platform, we generated mutants involved in diseases and aging. This new system allows us to model aging and aging-related diseases and rapidly screen for potential treatments.