# Transposable elements as drivers of normal and accelerated aging in Vertebrates

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA · 2020 · $211,459

## Abstract

A key hallmark of aging is an overall increase in genomic instability. Accumulating evidence has revealed
widespread reactivation of transposable elements (TE) during aging across taxonomically-distant model
organisms. Yet, the relationship between this aberrant reactivation and age-related functional decline is largely
unknown, at the cellular, organ and organism levels. We hypothesize that the progressive loss of transposon
repression contributes to the widespread age-related functional decline at the organismal level. The African
turquoise killifish (Nothobranchius furzeri), an emerging naturally short-lived vertebrate model organism,
provides a unique opportunity to investigate this link, and the investigators have previously developed a
powerful genome-to-phenotype toolkit for this species. In this proposal, we propose to leverage the African
turquoise killifish as a tractable short-lived model organism to rapidly interrogate the molecular and
organismal impact of increased TE activity on vertebrate aging in vivo.
 To test our hypothesis, we propose (i) to characterize the repetitive element landscape in the genome of
the African turquoise killifish and TE activation patterns, and (ii) to explore the impact of conserved changes in
TE regulation with aging and age-related disease on the aging process. The completion of this project will
advance the understanding of vertebrate aging. Ultimately, these findings will help define therapeutic targets
for development of new treatments for age-associated diseases that have a heavy economic burden, and more
importantly, cause extreme suffering to patients and their families.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9981604
- **Project number:** 5R21AG063739-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
- **Principal Investigator:** Berenice Anath Benayoun
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $211,459
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-08-01 → 2022-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9981604

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9981604, Transposable elements as drivers of normal and accelerated aging in Vertebrates (5R21AG063739-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9981604. Licensed CC0.

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