Abstract:IntroductionDietary nitrate lowers blood pressure and improves athletic performance in humans, yet data supporting observations that it may increase cerebral blood flow and improve cognitive performance are mixed. Here we tested the hypothesis that nitrate and nitrite treatment would improve indicators of learning and cognitive performance in a zebrafish (Danio rerio) model. We also explored the extent to which nitrate and nitrite treatment affected the brain metabolome in order to understand how nitrate and n… Show more
Nitrite toxicity poses a significant threat to aquatic organisms, including largemouth bass (LMB) and Micropterus salmoides. This study aimed to elucidate the role of bZIP transcription factors in mediating the molecular responses to nitrite stress in the LMB spleen. We identified 120 bZIP genes in the LMB genome using bioinformatics analysis and divided them into 11 subgroups based on phylogenetic relationships. Under nitrite stress, the bZIP_XI subgroup was upregulated, suggesting the activation of the stress response in the LMB spleen. Cellular pathway analysis revealed enrichment of pathways related to stress response, DNA repair, apoptosis, and autophagy. Co-expression network analysis highlighted bZIP_XI members such as msabZIP_49, msabZIP_12, msabZIP_39, and msabZIP_116 as potential key regulators. These transcription factors likely modulated the expression of stress-related genes like VCAM1, POLE3, and BMP1. Conserved binding motifs in the promoters of these genes may support regulation by bZIP_XI. Furthermore, bZIP_XI members correlated with immune cell infiltration in the spleen, potentially regulating immune-related genes like BCL2L1 and SELE. Homologs of bZIP_XI in other fish species exhibited similar expression patterns under stress. Overall, this study implicates the bZIP transcription factor family, notably the bZIP_XI subgroup, in orchestrating the molecular response of the LMB spleen to nitrite toxicity by regulating stress response pathways and immune function. These findings provide insights into nitrite stress adaptation in fish.
Brassica vegetables contain a multitude of bioactive compounds that prevent and suppress cancer and promote health. Evidence suggests that the gut microbiome may be essential in the production of these compounds; however, the relationship between specific microbes and the abundance of metabolites produced during cruciferous vegetable digestion are still unclear. We utilized an ex vivo human fecal incubation model with in vitro digested broccoli sprouts (Broc), Brussels sprouts (Brus), a combination of the two vegetables (Combo), or a negative control (NC) to investigate microbial metabolites of cruciferous vegetables. We conducted untargeted metabolomics on the fecal cultures by LC-MS/MS and completed 16S rRNA gene sequencing. We identified 72 microbial genera in our samples, 29 of which were significantly differentially abundant between treatment groups. A total of 4499 metabolomic features were found to be significantly different between treatment groups (q ≤ 0.05, fold change > 2). Chemical enrichment analysis revealed 45 classes of compounds to be significantly enriched by brassicas, including long-chain fatty acids, coumaric acids, and peptides. Multi-block PLS-DA and a filtering method were used to identify microbe–metabolite interactions. We identified 373 metabolites from brassica, which had strong relationships with microbes, such as members of the family Clostridiaceae and genus Intestinibacter, that may be microbially derived.
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