The present study was conducted to examine, for the first time in Nothobranchius furzeri, the effects of mating in different aged breeders with particular emphasis on reproductive fitness and the effects of parental aging on offspring gametogenesis. In N. furzeri, the increase of maternal and paternal age is often a predictable indicator of the upcoming deterioration on their natural habitat (i.e., ephemeral puddles) during African dry season. We previously revealed that elderly parents respond to their physiological decline state by decelerating offspring's development and growth rate. In the present study, we focused on the effects of different age parents at the onset of female offspring's sexual maturity since interaction between growth and reproduction traits generally occurs in vertebrates and could represent a life strategy. For this purpose, four different age breeder groups were set up. The age-specific breeder differences in reproductive performance were examined by analyzing the reproductive age-related fitness, the gametogenesis process in F1 females by histology, the offspring oocytes quality analyzing the gene expression of age-related molecular markers, like sirt1 and foxo3a, and the biochemical composition of vitellogenic oocytes using a spectroscopic approach. Results suggest that both maternal and paternal age affect reproductive performance and could influence the onset of sexual maturity in female offspring. In conclusion, these findings highlighted the effects of parental aging on life history traits in the short-lived model N. furzeri. Our results suggested that the advanced sexual maturity in offspring from young parents could be related to an adaptive response to the temporary habitat conditions.
Keywords: F1 oocytes quality; gametogenesis; killifish; reproductive fitness; transgenerational effects.