RNA Sequencing Analysis Reveals Divergent Adaptive Response to Hypo- and Hyper-Salinity in Greater Amberjack (Seriola dumerili) Juveniles

Abstract

Salinity significantly affects physiological and metabolic activities, breeding, development, survival, and growth of marine fish. The greater amberjack (Seriola dumerili) is a fast-growing species that has immensely contributed to global aquaculture diversification. However, the tolerance, adaptation, and molecular responses of greater amberjack to salinity are unclear. This study reared greater amberjack juveniles under different salinity stresses (40, 30, 20, and 10 ppt) for 30 days to assess their tolerance, adaptation, and molecular responses to salinity. RNA sequencing analysis of gill tissue was used to identify genes and biological processes involved in greater amberjack response to salinity stress at 40, 30, and 20 ppt. Eighteen differentially expressed genes (DEGs) (nine upregulated and nine downregulated) were identified in the 40 vs. 30 ppt group. Moreover, 417 DEGs (205 up-regulated and 212 down-regulated) were identified in the 20 vs. 30 ppt group. qPCR and transcriptomic analysis indicated that salinity stress affected the expression of genes involved in steroid biosynthesis (ebp, sqle, lss, dhcr7, dhcr24, and cyp51a1), lipid metabolism (msmo1, nsdhl, ogdh, and edar), ion transporters (slc25a48, slc37a4, slc44a4, and apq4), and immune response (wnt4 and tlr5). Furthermore, KEGG pathway enrichment analysis showed that the DEGs were enriched in steroid biosynthesis, lipids metabolism, cytokine–cytokine receptor interaction, tryptophan metabolism, and insulin signaling pathway. Therefore, this study provides insights into the molecular mechanisms of marine fish adaptation to salinity.

Commercial production of Florida pompano (Trachinotus carolinus) larvae at low salinity induces variable changes in whole-larvae microbial diversity, gene expression, and gill histopathology

“…In previous studies, the genes tlr2, lyz, cat, gsto1, gss, scara3, il6l, il8l, and tlr5 were found to be differentially expressed due to changes in salinity (Si et al, 2018;Lin et al, 2020;Peng et al, 2022). However, in our study, the expression of these genes did not differ statistically among different salinity treatments.…”

“…General whole transcriptomics results and interpretation of the DEGs, Gene Set Enrichment Analysis, and fatty acid biosynthesis genes can be found in our previous article (Bradshaw et al, 2023). In this article we further analyzed the trends for 12 target genes that were chosen due to past studies demonstrating that their expression was significantly affected by salinity changes or pathogenic infection (Zhou et al, 2015;Maekawa et al, 2017;Si et al, 2018;Gong et al, 2020;Lin et al, 2020;Peng et al, 2022). The genes affected by salinity changes includes: tlr2 (toll-like receptor 2), lyz (lysozyme), cat (catalase), gsto1 (glutathione S-transferase omega 1), gss (glutathione synthetase), scara3 (scavenger receptor class A member 3), il6l (interleukin-6-like [LOC111223243 in Seriola dumerili genome], il8l (interleukin-8like [LOC111231462]), and tlr5 (toll-like receptor 5).…”

Alternative splicing plays a nonredundant role in greater amberjack (Seriola dumerili) in the adaptation to ambient salinity fluctuations

“…Greater amberjack is an economically important fish that is widely popular for its tasty meat, and it is also a major predator and inhabitant of artificial reefs such as coral reefs and shipwrecks, maintaining the structure and function of these ecosystems (Pereira et al, 2023). It has been widely reported that the growth, development, and physiology of greater amberjack were sensitive to the changes of water salinity, temperature, and seawater pressure (Barany et al, 2021; Navarro-Guillen et al, 2022; Peng et al, 2022; Liu et al, 2023; Ru et al, 2023). Comparative transcriptomic analyses showed that salinity alternations substantially disrupt tissue growth and development, energy metabolism, and immune responses in greater amberjack (Peng et al, 2022; Liu et al, 2023).…”

“…It has been widely reported that the growth, development, and physiology of greater amberjack were sensitive to the changes of water salinity, temperature, and seawater pressure (Barany et al, 2021; Navarro-Guillen et al, 2022; Peng et al, 2022; Liu et al, 2023; Ru et al, 2023). Comparative transcriptomic analyses showed that salinity alternations substantially disrupt tissue growth and development, energy metabolism, and immune responses in greater amberjack (Peng et al, 2022; Liu et al, 2023). Correspondingly, muscle water content, gill and intestinal Na-K-ATPase activity, and growth-related processes were enhanced to combat the adverse impacts (Barany et al, 2021; Liu et al, 2023).…”

Effect of Transport Density on Greater Amberjack (Seriola dumerili) Stress, Metabolism, Antioxidant Capacity and Immunity

“…This species has attracted more and more attention from the global aquaculture industry and is also considered to be the main candidate for the diversification of mariculture in the Mediterranean region (Gamberoni et al, 2021). Greater amberjack is a fast-growing species that have made outstanding contributions to the diversification of global aquaculture (Peng et al, 2022). The greater amberjack is a migratory fish, often in shallow water.…”