Examination of sex-related differences in intestinal and gonadal lipid metabolism in the sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus

Zhang, Shuangyan; Ru, Xiaoshang; Zhang, Libin; Gonçalves, David; Yang, Hongsheng

doi:10.1016/j.aquaculture.2022.738787

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…The sexual difference in both FA and carotenoid composition of sea cucumber gonads is consistent with existing knowledge. It has previously been evidenced in H. forskali and in Apostichopus japonicus regarding FA (David et al 2020 ; Zhang et al 2023 ) and in A. japonicus and Holothuria leucospilota regarding carotenoids (Matsuno et al 1969 ; Matsuno and Ito 1971 ). As previously suggested by David et al ( 2020 ), the twice as high total concentration of FA in female compared to male gonads (on average 72.4 ± 15.7 mg g −1 in female vs. 36.9 ± 7.9 mg g −1 in male gonads over all our samples) is likely due to lipid storage for future use as an energy source by eggs, while spermatozoids require energy only until fertilisation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

“…This would explain why males exhibited higher relative proportions of highly unsaturated FA (HUFA; ≥ 20 carbon atoms and three double bonds) that are FA of high metabolic significance in gonads compared to females (46.5 ± 2.0 in males of cluster 3 vs. 26.9 ± 2.5% in females of cluster 1). Zhang et al ( 2023 ) recently evidenced that the fatty acid synthase gene was up-regulated in the intestine of males A. japonicus compared to females and speculated that higher levels of PUFA in male gonads might be related to intestinal metabolism. Sexual differences in gonad FA proportions were also shown for the sea urchins Arbacia lixula , A. dufresnii, Paracentrotus lividus , Strongylocentrotus intermedius and Sphaerechinus granularis (Martinez-Pita et al 2010 ; Zárate et al 2016 ; Díaz de Vivar et al 2019 ; Rocha et al 2019 ; Wang et al 2019 ; Lourenço et al 2022 ) and sex-related differences in the relative abundance of carotenoids were revealed for P. lividus , Psammechinus miliaris and Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis (Symonds et al 2007 , 2009 ; Hagen et al 2008 ; Rocha et al 2019 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sex-specific seasonal variations in the fatty acid and carotenoid composition of sea cucumber gonads and implications for aquaculture

et al. 2023

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Fatty acids and carotenoids are known to have roles in embryonic and larval development of sea cucumbers, but their changes in gonads during gametogenesis have not yet been studied. To improve our knowledge of the reproductive cycle of sea cucumbers in an aquaculture perspective, we collected 6–11 individuals of the species Holothuria (Panningothuria) forskali Delle Chiaje, 1823 approximately every 2 months from December 2019 to July 2021 east of the Glenan Islands (Brittany – France; 47.710°N, 3.948°W) at a depth of 8–12 m. Our results show that soon after spawning, sea cucumbers take advantage of an increased food availability in spring to rapidly and opportunistically accumulate nutrients in the form of lipids in their gonads (from May to July) and then slowly elongate, desaturate and probably rearrange fatty acids within lipid classes for the next reproductive season according to the specific requirements of both sexes. In contrast, acquisition of carotenoids occurs synchronously with gonads filling and/or through the reabsorption of spent tubules (T5), thus revealing little seasonal variations at the scale of the entire gonad in terms of relative abundance in both sexes. All results suggest that gonads are fully replenished with nutrients by October and that broodstock for induced reproduction could be captured at this moment and kept until the production of larvae is required. Maintaining broodstock for consecutive years would probably be a higher level challenge as the dynamics of tubule recruitment are not fully understood and seem to last for several years. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00227-023-04198-0.

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