Expression changes of non-specific cytotoxic cell receptor (NCCRP1) and proliferation and migration of NCCs post-Nocardia seriolae infection in Northern Snakehead.

Non-specific cytotoxic cells (NCCs) are essential to the cytotoxic cell-mediated immune response in teleost. The fish non-specific cytotoxic cell receptor protein 1 (NCCRP1) plays an important role as a membrane protein in the recognition of target cells and the activation of NCC. However, the roles of fish NCCs during pathogen infection require comprehensive studies. In this study, the coding sequence of northern snakehead (Channa argus) nccrp1 (Canccrp1) was cloned. Canccrp1 contains an open reading frame of 690 bp, encoding a peptide of 229 amino acids with a conserved F-box-associated domain (FBA) and proline-rich motifs (PRMs). Transcriptional expression analysis revealed that the constitutive expression of Canccrp1 was higher in the immune-related organs, such as liver, kidneys, and spleen. Moreover, mRNA and protein expression of Canccrp1 gradually increased in the spleen at 1-6 days post infection (dpi) with Nocardia seriolae, in addition to reaching peak expression in both the kidneys and liver at 2 dpi. A polyclonal antibody prepared against recombinant CaNCCRP1 effectively labeled NCCs in peripheral blood and different tissues. Then, immunofluorescence (IF) staining showed that the number of NCCs was significantly increased and showed a scattered distribution in the early stages of N. seriolae infection (2 and 4 dpi) before the forming of granulomas. At the late stages of N. seriolae infection (6 dpi), more NCCs migrated to preexisting granulomas, showing significant coaccumulation with N. seriolae. All these results clearly indicate the expression changes of CaNCCRP1, and the number and localization changes of NCCs post-N. seriolae infection, implying potential roles for fish NCCs in the antimicrobial infection process in fish.

Transcriptome analysis in the spleen of Northern Snakehead (Channa argus) challenged with Nocardia seriolae.

Northern snakehead (Channa argus) is an indigenous fish species and is one of popularly cultured snakeheads in China and other Asian countries. Unfortunately, Nocardia seriolae infections have caused considerable losses in the snakehead aquaculture industry. However, the infectivity and the immune response induced by N. seriolae in snakehead are unclear. In order to better understand the immune response of Northern snakehead in a series of time points after N. seriolae challenge, we conducted the transcriptomic comparison in snakehead spleen at 48, 96, and 144 h after the challenge of N. seriola against their control counterparts. Gene annotation and pathway analysis of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were carried out to understand the functions of the DEGs. Additionally, protein-protein interaction networks were conducted to obtain the interaction relationships of immune-related DEGs. These results revealed the expression changes of multiple DEGs and signaling pathways involved in immunity during N. seriolae infection, which will facilitate our comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms involved in the immune response to bacterial infection in the northern snakehead.

Global expression response of genes in sex-undifferentiated Nile tilapia gonads after exposure to trace letrozole.

The aromatase inhibitor letrozole can be found in rivers, effluents, and even drinking water. Studies have demonstrated that letrozole affects various metabolic pathways and may cause reproductive toxicity, especially in fish exposed during development. However, studies on the effect of a low concentration of letrozole at the whole-gonad transcriptomic level in the early stage of fish sexual development have not been investigated. The aim of our study was to explore the potential effects of a low concentration of letrozole on the gonad transcriptome of Nile tilapia at an early stage of sexual development. In this study, 9 dpf (days postfertilization) Nile tilapia were exposed to trace letrozole for 12 days. Letrozole exposure from 9 dpf to 21 dpf persistently altered phenotypic sex development and induced the male-biased sex ratio. The transcriptome results showed that 1173 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were present in the female control vs 1.5 µg/L letrozole-treated female comparison group and that 1576 DEGs were present in the 1.5 µg/L letrozole-treated female vs male control comparison group. Differentially expressed gene enrichment analysis revealed several crucial pathways, including the drug metabolism-cytochrome P450 pathway, the ErbB-PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway, and the calcium signalling pathway. Further analysis of these identified DEGs indicated that some key genes correlated with metabolism and epigenetic regulation were significantly affected by letrozole, such as UDP-glucuronosyltransferase (Ugt), glutathione S-transferase omega-1 (Gsto1), lysine-specific demethylase 6bb (Kdm6bb, original name is Kdm6a), jumonji and AT-rich interaction domain containing 2 (Jarid2b, original name is Jarid2), growth arrest and DNA damage inducible gamma (Gadd45g), and chromobox protein 7 (Cbx7). The qRT-PCR validation results for twelve DEGs showed that the Pearson's correlation of the log10fold change values between the qPCR and RNA-Seq results was 0.90, indicating the accuracy and reliability of the RNA-Seq results. Our study is the first to report the effect of letrozole on the transcriptome of gonads from fish during early-stage sexual development. These findings will be useful for understanding the toxic effects and molecular mechanisms of letrozole exposure at the early stage of gonad development on the sexual development of aquatic organisms.

Tissue-specific metabolic responses of Cyprinus flammans to copper.

Copper (Cu) contamination is serious in China, with ≤2.76 mg/L in some waters. Exposure to Cu causes a high toxicity to the aquatic organisms and subsequent ecological risk. To understand fish responses to Cu exposure, we analyzed the metabonomic changes in multiple tissues (gill, liver, and muscle) of Cyprinus flammans using an nuclear magnetic resonance-based metabonomic technique. Our results showed that metabolic alterations are dose-dependent. No significant metabolic alterations in three tissues of fish are caused by 0.25 mg/L Cu. However, 1.53 mg/L Cu caused changes of energy-related metabolites and amino acids, which we suggest are due to enhanced metabolic acidosis in gill and muscle, decreased tricarboxylic acid cycle activity in muscle, increased gluconeogenesis from amino acids in liver, and improved glycogenesis in liver and muscle. The Cori cycle between liver and muscle is concurrently triggered. Furthermore, high concentration of Cu resulted in the alteration of choline metabolism such that we hypothesize that Cu induces membrane damage and detoxification of CuSO4 in gill as well as altered osmoregulation in all three tissues. Choline-O-sulfate in gill may be used as a biomarker to provide an early warning of Cu exposure in C. flammans. Moreover, Cu exposure caused alterations of nucleoside and nucleotide metabolism in both gill and muscle. These findings provide a new insight into the metabolic effects of Cu exposure on C. flammans and highlight the value of metabonomics in the study of metabolic metal disturbance in fish.

[Screening of microsatellite markers associated with cold tolerance of large yellow croaker (Pseudosciaena crocea R.)].

Cold tolerance is one of the major economic characters in fish. In order to discuss the cold tolerance of large yellow croaker (Pseudosciaena crocea R.), fifteen fluorescent dye-labeled microsatellite markers were applied to detect genetic differences between F1 offsprings of cold tolerance group and normal group of large yellow croaker by SSR-PCR. Each group contained 20 randomly and separately sampled individuals. As a result, marker LYC0002 five alleles (LYC0002(104 bp), LYC0002(106 bp), LYC0002(108 bp), LYC0002(110 bp), and LYC0002(112 bp)) were amplified with marker LYC0002 in both groups and 60% (12/20) of individuals had allele LYC0002(112 bp) in cold tolerance group exclusively, which indicated that this allele is probably sensitive to temperature and associated with gene for cold tolerance. In addition, four alleles (LYC0002(106 bp), LYC0002(108 bp), LYC0002(110 bp), and LYC0002(112 bp)) were sequenced individually. Sequence alignments showed that LYC0002(112 bp) allele contains 10 (CA) repeats, the remaining three alleles lacked one (CA) one by one, corresponding to the stepwise mutation model (SMM) of microsatellite.

[Quantification of fish starvation treatments and randomization test for the contribution rates of treatment factors by BP network].

In this paper, four feeding treatments including continuous feeding (SR00), recycling of 2 days starvation and 2 days refeeding (SR22), recycling of 7 days starvation and 2 days refeeding (SR72), and recycling of 7 days starvation and 7 days refeeding (SR77) were designed, and the feeding treatments were quantified as two treatment factors, i. e., starvation stress (SS) and starvation frequency (CF). Combining these two factors with the factors dry matter feed intake (FI), body weight (BW), water temperature (TE), water salinity (SA), water pH (PH) and growth time (GT), three BP artificial neural networks were constructed to predict the weight gain (WG), specific growth rate (SGR), and feed conversion ratio (FCR) of Lateolabrax japonicus, respectively. The results showed that the WG, SGR and FCR of L. japonicus were significantly affected by different feeding treatments. Throughout a 8-week trial, the WG and SGR of starved fish couldn't catch up to those of control fish. Except for SR72 group whose FCR was markedly higher than that of control group, no differences in FCR were observed between control group and experimental groups SR22 and SR77. The study also indicated that artificial neural network could well predict WG and SGR, but was unavailable for FCR. Among the eight factors, FI, SS, CF and GT had significant contributions to both WG and SGR. Furthermore, WG and SGR were predominantly dependent on FI and SS, respectively. Based on 4999 randomizations, the contribution rate of the treatment factors (including related FI) to WG and SGR was 64.9% and 79.7% , respectively.