Knockout of longevity gene Sirt1 in zebrafish leads to oxidative injury, chronic inflammation, and reduced life span

PLoS One. 2019 Aug 6;14(8):e0220581. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0220581. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

Sirt1, a member of the sirtuin gene family, encodes the most conserved mammalian NAD+-dependent deacetylase enzyme responsible for removing acetyl groups from many proteins. The Sirt1 gene is known as a longevity gene whose knockout in mice leads to decreased lifespan relative to the wild type. This study aimed to explore phenotypic changes in zebrafish Sirt1-knockouts and to investigate the function of the Sirt1 gene. Targeted knockout of Sirt1 in zebrafish (Danio rerio) was achieved using the CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing system. We created a 4-bp insertion-homozygote Sirt1-knockout zebrafish. Although there was no evident difference in appearance in the early stages of development, a significant increase in reactive oxygen species and in the extent of apoptosis in Sirt1-knockout zebrafish was observed. Sirt1 knockout caused inflammatory genes, including IL-1b, IL-6 and TNF-α to be highly expressed. Additionally, the lack of Sirt1 caused chronic inflammation and intestinal atrophy, thereby increasing pro-apoptotic events, which ultimately reduced the lifespan of transgenic zebrafish. Overall, our data demonstrate that lack of Sirt1 caused a significantly increased generation of reactive oxygen species that resulted in chronic inflammation and regeneration. Continuous repetition of these events played an important role in accelerating aging, thereby decreasing lifespan. Our findings using the knockout zebrafish model confirmed the association of the Sirt1 gene to aging processes and lifespan. Furthermore, the Sirt1-knockout mutant zebrafish developed in our study will surely be a valuable model to explore the mechanism of chronic inflammation.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aging / genetics
  • Animals
  • Gene Knockout Techniques
  • Inflammation / genetics*
  • Longevity / drug effects*
  • Oxidative Stress / drug effects*
  • Reactive Oxygen Species / metabolism
  • Sirtuin 1 / deficiency
  • Sirtuin 1 / genetics*
  • Sirtuin 1 / pharmacology
  • Zebrafish

Substances

  • Reactive Oxygen Species
  • Sirtuin 1

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the Technology Innovation Program (10063396 to SWP, Zebrafish-based services in efficacy, Toxicity, and druggability) funded by the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy (MOTIE, Korea), Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea(NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education(2015R1D1A1A09060230 to SWP), and a grant of the Korea Health Technology R&D Project through the Korea Health Industry Development Institute(KHIDI), funded by the Ministry of Health & Welfare, Republic of Korea (grant number : HI14C1324 to SWP). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.