METAGE · Metamorphosis as a re-set mechanism of the ageing clock: is early-life stress bypassed by morphogenesis?

Metamorphosis as a re-set mechanism of the ageing clock: is early-life stress bypassed by morphogenesis?

Metamorphosis is a process that connects two different life stages through abrupt morphological and physiological changes, including considerable tissue remodeling and formation. Despite ~80% of all animal species undergo metamorphosis, we do not fully understand yet how environmental conditions before and after transformation affect individual performance and physiology. Specifically, this project experimentally tested whether metamorphosis can re-set the effects of stress exposure early in life. To this end, we conducted several experiments making use of an amphibian species, the African clawed frog Xenopus laevis. In these experiments, we measured several parameters linked to the process of ageing, i.e., loss of organismal functionality, in individuals exposed to different temperature conditions before and after metamorphosis, to answer the following questions: i) do levels of ageing parameters vary across larval and metamorphic stages?, ii) is stress accumulated during the larval stages reduced by the metamorphosis process, and does this differ between re-modelled and newly formed tissues/structures?, iii) does stress prior to metamorphosis influence cellular responses to temperature stress and stress markers later in life? This project aims to contribute to the society by: i) understanding how global change impacts on wildlife, and specifically on those species undergoing metamorphosis, which will help to improve conservation plans; ii) investigating the ageing mechanisms involved in tissue development, which can have implications for the medical field -for example, by helping to understand how tissue formation or regeneration affect animal senescence.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union