African turquoise killifish embryos survive dry seasons by entering diapause, using ancient genes to halt and resume embryonic development. Similar genetic expressions are found in other species, including mice. Credit: SciTechDaily.comThe African turquoise killifish utilizes a unique survival strategy through diapause, leveraging ancient genes to endure dry seasons. This mechanism involves pausing embryonic development, which is later resumed.
“The whole program is like day and night—there is life in the normal state and life in the diapause state, and the way this happened was by reshuffling or re-wiring the regulatory region of a whole set of genes,” says senior author and molecular biologist Anne Brunet of Stanford University.African turquoise killifish mature faster than any other vertebrate species, and adults live for only around 6 months, even in captivity.
“Even though diapause evolved relatively recently, the genes that are specialized in diapause are really ancient,” said Brunet.
Next, the investigators explored how these diapause-specialized genes are regulated in the killifish. They identified several key transcription factors that control the altered gene expression patterns seen during diapause, including REST and FOXO3, which are known to be expressed during hibernation in mammals. Notably, several of these regulatory genes are involved in lipid metabolism, which has a distinctive profile during diapause.
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