High-temperature stress response: Insights into the molecular regulation of American shad (Alosa sapidissima) using a multi-omics approach.

High temperature is an important abiotic stressor that limits the survival and growth of aquatic organisms. American shad (Alosa sapidissima), a migratory fish suitable for culturing at low temperatures, is known for its delicious taste and thus has high economic value. Studies concerning changes in A. sapidissima under high temperature are limited, especially at the gene expression and protein levels. High-temperature stress significantly reduced the survival rates and increased vacuolar degeneration and inflammatory infiltration in the gills and liver. High temperature increased the activities of SOD, CAT, and cortisol, with a trend of initial increase followed by decreases in MDA, ALP, and LDH, and irregular changes in T-AOC and Na-K-ATPase. Comprehensive analysis of the transcriptome, proteome, and metabolome of gills from fish treated with different culture temperatures (24, 27, and 30 °C) revealed that differentially expressed genes, proteins, and metabolites were highly enriched in pathways involved in protein digestion and absorption, protein processing in endoplasmic reticulum, metabolic pathways, and purine metabolism. Gene expression and protein profiles indicated that genes coding for antioxidants (i.e., cat and alpl) and members of the heat shock protein (i.e., HSP70, HSP90AA1, and HSP5) were significantly upregulated. Additionally, a conjoint analysis revealed that several key enzymes, including nucleoside diphosphate kinase 2, adenosine deaminase, and ectonucleoside triphosphate diphosphohydrolase 5/6 were altered, thereby affecting the metabolism of guanosine, guanine, and inosine. An interaction network further confirmed that levels of the essential amino acids DL-arginine and L-histidine were significantly reduced, and corticosterone levels were significantly increased, suggesting that A. sapidissima may be more dependent on amino acids for energy in vivo. Overall, this work suggests that living in a high-temperature environment leads to differential defense responses in fishes. The results provide novel perspectives for studying the molecular basis of adaptation to climate change in A. sapidissima and for genetic selection.

Effect of dietary koumine on the immune and antioxidant status of carp (Cyprinus carpio) after Aeromonas hydrophila infection.

Koumine (KM) has anxiolytic, anti-inflammatory and growth-promoting effects in pigs and sheep. Based on the growth-promoting and immunological effects of koumine, the present study was conducted on Cyprinus carpio (C. carpio) with four KM concentrations: 0 mg/kg, 0.2 mg/kg, 2 mg/kg, and 20 mg/kg for 10 weeks, followed by a 1-week Aeromonas hydrophila (A. hydrophila) infection experiment. The effect of KM on the immunity of A. hydrophila infected carp was analyzed by histopathology, biochemical assay, and qRT-PCR to assess the feasibility of KM in aquaculture. The results showed that the presence of KM alleviated pathogen damage to carp tissues. At 2 mg/kg and 20 mg/kg concentrations of KM successively and significantly elevated (p < 0.05) the SOD activities in the intestinal tract, hepatopancreas and kidney of carp. The expression levels of hepatopancreatic antioxidant genes Nrf2 and IGF-1 were significantly up-regulated in the same group (p < 0.05), while the expression levels of immune genes IL-8 and IL-10 were down-regulated. In summary, KM at concentrations of 2 mg/kg and 20 mg/kg could regulate the expression of antioxidant and immune genes in various tissues in an orderly and rapid manner, and significantly improve the antioxidant and immune abilities of carp, which is conducive to the improvement of the resilience of carp.

Effects of different combinations of koumine and gelsemine on growth performance, intestinal health, and transcriptome of Cyprinus carpio.

Koumine (KM) and gelsemine (GS) have shown significant benefits in livestock production, but their potential in aquaculture remains largely unexplored. This study examined the impact of different KM and GS combinations as feed additives on C. carpio (90 fish per group, initial weight 1.95 ± 0.08 g). KM and GS were introduced in ratios of 2:2 (mg/kg), 2:1 (mg/kg), and 2:0.67 (mg/kg) over a 10-week aquaculture experiment. The results demonstrate that the 2:1 (mg/kg) group increases the villus length, muscular layer thickness, crude protein, and crude fat content. Regarding fatty acid content, KM and GS enhance the levels of various fatty acids, including the total saturated fatty acid and total monounsaturated fatty acid. Additionally, KM and GS improve the composition and function of the intestinal microbiota. The 2:1 (mg/kg) group significantly elevates the enzymatic activities of SOD, MDA, CAT and upregulates the expression of immune-related genes such as toll-like receptor 2, transforming growth factor ß, and glutathione S-transferase. Transcriptomic analysis suggests that KM and GS may have potential benefits for nutrient utilization and immune regulation in C. carpio. In summary, this study provides valuable insights into the use of KM and GS as feed additives in aquaculture.

Integrated Analysis of Transcriptomics and Metabolomics Unveil the Novel Insight of One-Year-Old Precocious Mechanism in the Chinese Mitten Crab, Eriocheir sinensis.

Eriocheir sinensis is traditionally a native high-value crab that is widely distributed in eastern Asia, and the precocity is considered the bottleneck problem affecting the development of the industry. The precocious E. sinensis is defined as a crab that reaches complete sexual maturation during the first year of its lifespan rather than as normally in the second year. However, the exact regulatory mechanisms underlying the precocity are still unclear to date. This study is the first to explore the mechanism of precocity with transcriptome-metabolome association analysis between the precocious and normal sexually mature E. sinensis. Our results indicated that the phenylalanine metabolism (map00360) and neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction (map04080) pathways play an important role in the precocity in the ovary of E. sinensis. In map00360, the predicted aromatic-L-amino-acid decarboxylase and 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase isoform X1 genes and the phenethylamine, phenylethyl alcohol, trans-2-hydroxycinnamate, and L-tyrosine metabolites were all down-regulated in the ovary of the precocious E. sinensis. The map04080 was the common KEGG pathway in the ovary and hepatopancreas between the precocious and normal crab. In the ovary, the predicted growth hormone secretagogue receptor type 1 gene was up-regulated, and the L-glutamate metabolite was down-regulated in the precocious E. sinensis. In the hepatopancreas, the predicted forkhead box protein I2 gene and taurine metabolite were up-regulated and the the L-glutamate metabolite was down-regulated in the precocious crab. There was no common pathway in the testis. Numerous common pathways in the hepatopancreas between male precocious and normal crab were identified. The specific amino acids, fatty acids and flavorful nucleotide (inosine monophosphate (MP), cytidine MP, adenosine MP, uridine MP, and guanosine MP) contents in the hepatopancreas and gonads further confirmed the above omics results. Our results suggest that the phenylalanine metabolism may affect the ovarian development by changing the contents of the neurotransmitter and tyrosine. The neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction pathway may affect the growth by changing the expressions of related genes and affect the umami taste of the gonads and hepatopancreas through the differences of L-glutamate metabolite in the precocious E. sinensis. The results provided valuable and novel insights on the precocious mechanism and may have a significant impact on the development of the E. sinensis aquaculture industry.

microRNA regulation of skin pigmentation in golden-back mutant of crucian carp from a rice-fish integrated farming system.

BACKGROUND: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous small non-coding RNAs (21-25 nucleotides) that act as essential components of several biological processes. Golden-back crucian carp (GBCrC, Carassius auratus) is a naturally mutant species of carp that has two distinct body skin color types (golden and greenish-grey), making it an excellent model for research on the genetic basis of pigmentation. Here, we performed small RNA (sRNA) analysis on the two different skin colors via Illumina sequencing. RESULTS: A total of 679 known miRNAs and 254 novel miRNAs were identified, of which 32 were detected as miRNAs with significant differential expression (DEMs). 23,577 genes were projected to be the targets of 32 DEMs, primarily those involved in melanogenesis, adrenergic signaling in cardiomyocytes, MAPK signaling pathway and wnt signaling pathway by functional enrichment. Furthermore, we built an interaction module of mRNAs, proteins and miRNAs based on 10 up-regulated and 13 down-regulated miRNAs in golden skin. In addition to transcriptional destabilization and translational suppression, we discovered that miRNAs and their target genes were expressed in the same trend at both the transcriptional and translational levels. Finally, we discovered that miR-196d could be indirectly implicated in regulating melanocyte synthesis and motility in the skin by targeting to myh7 (myosin-7) gene through the luciferase reporter assay, antagomir silencing in vivo and qRT-PCR techniques. CONCLUSIONS: Our study gives a systematic examination of the miRNA profiles expressed in the skin of GBCrC, assisting in the comprehension of the intricate molecular regulation of body color polymorphism and providing insights for C. auratus breeding research.

Koumine induces apoptosis in Cyprinus carpio liver cells by regulating JAK-STAT and p53 signaling pathways.

Koumine is an alkaloid with significant anti-anxiety, anticancer cell proliferation, and analgesic activities, and our previous studies have shown that koumine can be used as an immunostimulant in aquaculture, but the molecular mechanism of its effect remains unclear. We fed a basal diet with 0, 0.2, 2, and 20 mg/kg koumine to C. carpio for 10 weeks, and comprehensive studies of the histological and biochemical parameters and transcriptomes of the four groups were performed. Histological results indicated that the number of apoptotic cells in the liver increased with increasing koumine concentration. Compared with those of the control group, the malondialdehyde, superoxide dismutase, catalase, acid phosphatase, alkaline phosphatase, and lactate dehydrogenase levels of the treatment group increased to varying degrees. In total, 100.11 GB of clean data, 4774 DEGs, and 138 differentially expressed genes were obtained from the transcriptome data. Differentially expressed genes were classified into 187 signalling pathways, and the circadian rhythm signalling pathway, the JAK-STAT signalling pathway, the p53 signalling pathway and the PPAR signalling pathway were the top enriched pathways. The qRT-PCR results confirmed that the key genes ifnar1, socs3l, epoa, ghra, cMyc, mcl-1, shisa4, and gtse1 involved in balancing cell proliferation and apoptosis were enriched in these pathways. We discovered that the JAK-STAT and p53 pathways are important targets of koumine. Such information contributes to a better understanding of the potential mechanism by which koumine regulates hepatic immunity as well as to lays the theoretical foundation for its application.

Studies on the molecular level changes and potential resistance mechanism of Coreius guichenoti under temperature stimulation.

In this study, we used transcriptome and proteome technology to analyze molecular level changes in tissues of Coreius guichenoti cultured at high temperature (HT) and low temperature (LT). We also screened for specific anti-stress genes and proteins and evaluated the relationships between them. We identified 201,803 unigenes and 10,623 proteins. Compared with the normal temperature (NT), 408 genes and 1,204 proteins were up- or down-regulated in brain tissues, respectively, at HT, and the numbers were 8 and 149 at LT. In gill tissues, the numbers were 101 and 1,745 at HT and 27 and 511 at LT. In gill tissues at both temperatures, the degree of down-regulation (average, HT 204.67-fold, LT 443.13-fold) was much greater than that of up-regulation (average, HT 28.69-fold, LT 17.68-fold). The protein expression in brain (average, up 52.67-fold, down 13.54-fold) and gill (average, up 73.02-fold, down 12.92-fold) tissues increased more at HT than at LT. The protein expression in brain (up 3.77-fold, down 4.79-fold) tissues decreased more at LT than at HT, whereas the protein expression in gill (up 8.64-fold, down 4.35-fold) tissues was up-regulated more at LT than at HT. At HT, brain tissues were mainly enriched in pathways related to metabolism and DNA repair; at LT, they were mainly enriched in cancer-related pathways. At both temperatures, gill tissues were mainly enriched in pathways related to cell proliferation, apoptosis, immunity, and inflammation. Additionally, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway analysis showed more differentially expressed proteins in gill tissues than in brain tissues at HT and LT, and temperature stimulation led to the strengthening of metabolic pathways in both tissues. Of the 96 genes we identified as potentially being highly related to temperature stress (59 from transcriptome and 38 from proteome data), we detected heat shock protein 70 in both the transcriptome and proteome. Our results improved our understanding of the differential relationship between gene expression and protein expression in C. guichenoti. Identifying important temperature stress genes will help lay a foundation for cultivating C. guichenoti, and even other fish species, that are resistant to HT or LT.

Effects of Dietary Koumine on Growth Performance, Intestinal Morphology, Microbiota, and Intestinal Transcriptional Responses of Cyprinus carpio.

Gelsemium elegans Benth. (GEB) is a traditional medicinal plant in China, and acts as a growth promoter in pigs and goats. Koumine (KM) is the most abundant alkaloid in GEB and produces analgesic, anti-cancer, and immunomodulatory effects. KM can be used as an aquatic immune stimulant, but its growth-promoting effects and transcriptional mechanisms have not been investigated. Diets containing KM at 0, 0.2, 2, and 20 mg/kg were fed to Cyprinus carpio for 71 days to investigate its effects on growth performance, intestinal morphology, microflora, biochemical indicators, and transcriptional mechanisms. Cyprinus carpio fed with KM as the growth promoter, and the number of intestinal crypts and intestinal microbial populations were influenced by KM concentration. KM increased the abundance of colonies of Afipia, Phyllobacterium, Mesorhizobium, and Labrys, which were associated with compound decomposition and proliferation, and decreased the abundance of colonies of pathogenic bacteria Methylobacterium-Methylorubrum. A total of 376 differentially-expressed genes (DEGs) among the four experimental groups were enriched for transforming growth factor-ß1 and small mother against decapentaplegic (TGF-ß1/Smad), mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), and janus kinases and signal transducers and activators of transcription (Jak/Stat) signaling pathways. In particular, tgfbr1, acvr1l, rreb-1, stat5b, smad4, cbp, and c-fos were up-regulated and positively correlated with KM dose. KM had a growth-promoting effect that was related to cell proliferation driven by the TGF-ß1/Smad, MAPK, and Jak/Stat signaling pathways. KM at 0.2 mg/kg optimized the growth performance of C. carpio, while higher concentrations of KM (2 and 20 mg/kg) may induce apoptosis without significantly damaging the fish intestinal structure. Therefore, KM at low concentration has great potential for development as an aquatic growth promotion additive.

Molecular and functional analysis of the microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (mitf) gene duplicates in red tilapia.

In vertebrates, the microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (mitf) is at the hub of the melanin synthesis regulation network. However, little information is known about its molecular characterization, expression, location, or function in skin color differentiation and variation of red tilapia. The full-length cDNA sequences (1977 bp and 1999 bp) of mitfa and mitfb, encoding polypeptides of 491 and 514 amino acids, were effectively identified from red tilapia in this study. The Mitfa and Mitfb sequences of red tilapia clustered first with O. aureus, then with other teleost fish, according to phylogenetic analysis. Mitfa and mitfb mRNA were highly expressed in the brain, dorsal skin and eye tissues using quantitative real-time PCR. The mRNA expressions of mitfa and mitfb were the highest in the cleavage stage during the early development of red tilapia. Among three different colors of red tilapia, the expression levels of mitfa and mitfb were highest in the PB (pink with scattered black spots) dorsal skin. After overwintering, the mitfa and mitfb mRNA expressions were high in the dorsal skin of PB (color changed from pink to black). Mitfa and mitfb were mostly found in the epidermal layer of the dorsal skin, according to in situ hybridization (ISH) analysis. After injecting mitf-dsRNA duplicates along the tail vein of red tilapia, the activity of tyrosinase and the level of melanin in the dorsal skin both decreased significantly. The mRNA expressions of mitfa and its downstream genes (tyrb, tyrp1a and dct) decreased, whereas the mRNA expression of mitfb increased after mitfa-dsRNA injection. The mRNA expressions of mitfb, tyrb, tyrp1a and dct decreased, whereas the mRNA expression of mitfa increased after injecting mitfb-dsRNA. These findings suggest that mitf gene duplicates may play an important role in red tilapia skin color differentiation and variation via the melanogenesis pathway.

Transcriptome analysis of skin color variation during and after overwintering of Malaysian red tilapia.

The commercial value of red tilapia is hampered by variations in skin color during overwintering. In this study, three types of skin of red tilapia, including the skin remained pink color during and after overwintering (P), the skin changed from pink color to black color during overwintering and remained black color after overwintering (P-B), and the skin changed from pink color to black color during overwintering but recovered to pink color when the temperature rose after overwintering (P-B-P), were used to analyze their molecular mechanisms of color variation. The transcriptome results revealed that the P, P-B, and P-B-P libraries had 43, 42, and 43 million clean reads, respectively. The top 10 abundance mRNAs and specific mRNAs (specificity measure SPM > 0.9) were screened. After comparing intergroup gene expression levels, there were 2528, 1924, and 1939 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between P-B-P and P-B, P-B-P and P, and P-B and P, respectively. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analyses of color-related mRNAs showed that a number of DEGs, including tyrp1, tyr, pmel, mitf, mc1r, asip, tat, hpdb, and foxd3, might play a potential role in pigmentation. Additionally, the co-expression patterns of genes were detected within the pigment-related pathways by the PPI network from P-B vs. P group. Furthermore, DEGs from the apoptosis and autophagy pathways, such as baxα, beclin1, and atg7, might be involved in the fading of red tilapia melanocytes. The findings will aid in understanding the molecular mechanism underlying skin color variation in red tilapia during and after overwintering as well as lay a foundation for future research aimed at improving red tilapia skin color characteristics.

Transcriptional inhibition of steroidogenic factor 1 in vivo in Oreochromis niloticus increased weight and suppressed gonad development.

Steroidogenic factor 1 (sf1) (officially designated as nuclear receptor subfamily 5 group A member 1 [NR5A1]) is an important regulator of gonad development. Previous studies on sf1 in fish have been limited to cloning and in vitro expression experiments. In this study, we used antisense RNA to down-regulate sf1 transcription and sf1 protein expression. Down-regulation of sf1 resulted in an increase in body weight and inhibition of gonadal development in both males and females with the consequent lower gonadosomatic index compared to fish in the control group. Hematoxylin-eosin staining of the gonads of fish with down-regulated sf1 revealed fewer seminiferous tubules and sperm in the testis of males. In addition, the oocytes were mainly stage II and many of them were atretic follicle. We conducted comparative transcriptome and proteome analyses between the sf1-down-regulated group and the control group. These analyses revealed multiple gene-protein pairs and pathways involved in regulating the observed changes, including 44 and 74 differently expressed genes and proteins in males and females, respectively. The results indicated that dysfunctional retinal metabolism and fatty acid metabolism could be causes of the observed weight gain and gonad abnormalities in sf1-down-regulated fish. These findings demonstrate the feasibility of using antisense RNA for gene editing in fish. This methodology allows the study gene function in species less amenable to gene editing as for example aquaculture species with long life cycles.

Comparative analysis of the gut microbiota in bighead carp under different culture patterns.

AIMS: To investigate the phylogenetic composition and functional potential of bighead carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis) gut microbiome in two rearing patterns (bighead carp polycultured with Oreochromis niloticus in pond A and bighead carp polycultured with Cyprinus carpio in pond B, respectively), as well as the changes of plankton in the cultured water at four different time points. METHODS AND RESULTS: The intestinal contents were sequenced using Illumina HiSeq of bacterial 16S rRNA. Cyanophyta and Chlorophyta were the prevalent phytoplankton in the water, whereas Rotifers and Protozoa were the predominant zooplankton. In all, 779,563 quality-filtered sequences and 8870 amplicon sequence variants were obtained from 24 samples that numbered T1A1 to T4A3 and T1B1 to T4B3, resulting in 35 phyla, with Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Fusobacteria and Cyanobacteria dominating. According to alpha diversity and beta diversity measurements, the bacterial communities were diverse, Chao1 richness and Pielou's evenness were significantly lower in the T2B and T4B groups. The gut bacterial communities of T1A, T1B, T2A and T2B groups differed from those of other samples, which formed distinctly clusters with principal coordinate analysis and non-metric multidimensional scaling analysis. PICRUSt2 predictive function analysis revealed that different culture patterns influenced the gut microbiota metabolic capacity. CONCLUSIONS: Intestinal bacteria belonging to the phyla Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Cyanobacteria and Fusobacteria are better suited to inhabit in various environments and perform specific functions. Furthermore, contact with the external environment and nutrient intake also stimulate the variety of intestinal microbiotas in polycultured bighead carp. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: This is the first comprehensive, high-throughput investigation of gut microbiota diversity in bighead carp during various seasons in two polycultured patterns and provide preliminary information on gut microbiome composition and changes, laying a crucial foundation for future research on fish culture patterns in various environments.

Parallel subgenome structure and divergent expression evolution of allo-tetraploid common carp and goldfish.

How two subgenomes in allo-tetraploids adapt to coexistence and coordinate through structure and expression evolution requires extensive studies. In the present study, we report an improved genome assembly of allo-tetraploid common carp, an updated genome annotation of allo-tetraploid goldfish and the chromosome-scale assemblies of a progenitor-like diploid Puntius tetrazona and an outgroup diploid Paracanthobrama guichenoti. Parallel subgenome structure evolution in the allo-tetraploids was featured with equivalent chromosome components, higher protein identities, similar transposon divergence and contents, homoeologous exchanges, better synteny level, strong sequence compensation and symmetric purifying selection. Furthermore, we observed subgenome expression divergence processes in the allo-tetraploids, including inter-/intrasubgenome trans-splicing events, expression dominance, decreased expression levels, dosage compensation, stronger expression correlation, dynamic functionalization and balancing of differential expression. The potential disorders introduced by different progenitors in the allo-tetraploids were hypothesized to be alleviated by increasing structural homogeneity and performing versatile expression processes. Resequencing three common carp strains revealed two major ecotypes and uncovered candidate genes relevant to growth and survival rate.

Dynamic Expression and Gene Regulation of MicroRNAs During Bighead Carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis) Early Development.

The early development of fish is regulated through dynamic and complex mechanisms involving the regulation of various genes. Many genes are subjected to post-transcriptional regulation by microRNAs (miRNAs). In the Chinese aquaculture industry, the native species bighead carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis) is important. However, the genetic regulation related to the early development of bighead carp is unknown. Here, we generated developmental profiles by miRNA sequencing to study the dynamic regulation of miRNAs during bighead carp early development. This study identified 1 046 miRNAs, comprising 312 known miRNAs and 734 uncharacterized miRNAs. Changes in miRNA expression were identified in the six early development stages. An obviously increased expression trend was detected during the development process, with the main burst of activity occurring after the earliest stage (early blastula, DS1). Investigations revealed that several miRNAs were dominantly expressed during the development process, especially in the later stages (e.g., miR-10b-5p, miR-21, miR-92a-3p, miR-206-3p, and miR-430a-3p), suggesting that these miRNAs exerted important functions during embryonic development. The differentially expressed miRNAs (DEMs) and time-serial analysis (profiles) of DEMs were analyzed. A total of 372 miRNAs were identified as DEMs (fold-change >2, and false discovery rate <0.05), and three expression profiles of the DEMs were detected to have co-expression patterns (r > 0.7, and p < 0.05). The broad negative regulation of target genes by miRNAs was speculated, and many development-related biological processes and pathways were enriched for the targets of the DEMs, which might be associated with maternal genome degradation and embryogenesis processes. In conclusion, we revealed the repertoire of miRNAs that are active during early development of bighead carp. These findings will increase our understanding of the regulatory mechanisms of early development of fish.

The stage-specific long non-coding RNAs and mRNAs identification and analysis during early development of common carp, Cyprinus carpio.

Cyprinus carpio is considered an alternative vertebrate fish model to zebrafish. However, systemic times-series research on the lncRNAs and mRNAs during early development of C. carpio has not been reported yet. This study provides the first long non-coding RNA (lncRNA)-mRNA expression profiles during six main early development stages (2 h post-fertilization hpf, 6 hpf, 12 hpf, 20 hpf, 64 hpf and 1 day post-hatching). A total of 51,979 lncRNAs were identified. We screened the top 10 abundance lncRNAs and mRNAs and stage-specific lncRNAs and mRNAs (specificity measure SPM > 0.9). We identified significant differentially expressed lncRNAs and mRNAs (|log2 (fold change)| ≥ 1 and false discovery rate FDR of <0.05). Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis identified numerous signaling pathways. Additionally, the lncRNA-mRNA co-regulated network analysis of two lncRNAs (lncrps25 and malat1) and two mRNAs (mitf and troponin T) were investigated. Our results provide new insight into the role of lncRNAs and mRNAs, and would advance the understanding of lncRNA-mediated mechanisms in early development of fish.

Comparative microRNAs expression profiles analysis during embryonic development of common carp, Cyprinus carpio.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play important roles in biological processes by regulating specific gene expression. Limited miRNAs information is available on embryonic development in common carp (Cyprinus carpio) so far. In this study, six important embryonic development stages of C.carpio were collected to perform a times-series of small RNA-seq experiments from cleavage, blastocyst, gastrulation, organ formation, hatching stage to 1 day post-hatching larva. The expression profiles of miRNAs were identified and differentially expressed miRNAs (DEMs) were screened out based on pairwise comparison. A mean of 12,744,989 raw reads and 9,888,123 clean reads were obtained from each library. A total of 2565 miRNAs were identified. 68 of 204 DEMs were overlapped with stage-specific miRNAs, in which 15 were known miRNAs and seemed to play a key role in embryogenesis. Additionally, time-course expression reveals several intriguing fluctuations during embryogenesis. Numerous signaling pathways were identified in embryonic development, including the phototransduction, hippo signaling pathway, Wnt, melanogenesis, histidine metabolism and fatty acid biosynthesis. The results would provide new insight into the roles of miRNAs in embryonic development, and would help us to advance the understanding of miRNA-mediated mechanisms in embryonic development of fish.

MicroRNA-206 Regulation of Skin Pigmentation in Koi Carp (Cyprinus carpio L.).

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are ∼22 nucleotide non-coding RNA molecules that act as crucial roles in plenty of biological processes. However, the molecular and cellular mechanisms of miRNAs to regulate skin color differentiation and pigmentation in fish have not been fully understood. Herein, we revealed that miR-206, a skin-enriched miRNA, regulates melanocortin 1 receptor (Mc1r, a key regulator of melanogenesis) expression by binding to its 3'-untranslated (UTR) region through bioinformatics and luciferase reporter assay in koi carp (Cyprinus carpio L.). The analysis of spatial and temporal expression patterns suggested that miR-206 is a potential regulator in the skin pigmentation process. Then, we silenced it in vivo with an antagomir method. The result showed a substantial increase of Mc1r mRNA expression and protein level, and also its downstream genes: tyrosinase (Tyr) and dopachrome tautomerase (Dct) that encoding key enzymes involved in melanin synthesis. Moreover, we constructed the miRNA-206 sponge lentivirus vector to transfect koi carp melanocytes in vitro, further checked the functions of melanocytes using Cck-8 and Transwell assays. As a result, inhibition of miR-206 significantly up-regulated Mc1r mRNA expression and protein level and accelerated the melanocyte proliferation and migration ability compared with the scrambled-sequence negative control group (miR-NC). Overall, these findings provide the evidence that miR-206 plays a regulatory role in the skin color pigmentation through targeting the Mc1r gene and would facilitate understanding the molecular regulatory mechanisms underlying miRNA-mediated skin color pigmentation in koi carp.

Dynamic transcriptome sequencing and analysis during early development in the bighead carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis).

BACKGROUND: Early development is a key process of the life history of fish. However, the relationship between the transcriptome and the dynamic regulation of early development is still uncharacterized in the bighead carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis). In the present study, we performed transcriptome analysis of six development stages in H. nobilis, aiming to understand the dynamic molecular regulation of early development in this fish. RESULTS: A total of 76,573 unigenes were assembled from clean sequence reads, with an average length of 1768 base. Among which, 41,742 (54.54%) unigenes were annotated to public protein databases, and an additional 59,014 simple sequence repeat (SSR) loci were identified among the unigenes. Furthermore, 30,199 differentially expressed transcripts (DETs) (fold change > 4 or < 0.25, and the false discovery rate FDR < 0.01) were observed in comparisons between the adjacent developmental stages, and nine expression patterns (profiles) were simulated using series-cluster analysis across six developmental stages. The unigenes expression level markedly increased after the DS1 stage (early blastula), and the numbers of DETs gradually decreased during subsequent development. The largest transcriptomic change (up- or down-regulated) was detected during the period from DS1 to DS2 (6-somite stage), which was enriched for many biological processes and metabolic pathways related to maternal to zygotic transition (MZT). Distinctly protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks were plotted for DETs during the period from DS1 to DS2. The genes (or proteins) from the same pathways were integrated together, and showed with obvious co-regulation patterns. In the series-cluster analysis, a remarkable profile of gene expression (profile_48) was identified that is probably related to the hatching during H. nobilis development, and the strict co-expression of a hatching enzyme gene (hce1) with 33 other annotated genes was identified from this profile. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicated that strict dynamic regulation occurs during the early development in H. nobilis, especially in embryogenesis before hatching. This study provides valuable new information and transcriptomic resources related to H. nobilis early development, and for certain events such as MZT and hatching.

Characterization and functional analysis of slc7a11 gene, involved in skin color differentiation in the red tilapia.

Red tilapia has become more popular for aquaculture production in China in recent years. However, the pigmentation differentiation that has resulted from the process of genetic breeding and skin color variation during the overwintering period are the main problems limiting the development of commercial culture. The genetic basis of skin color differentiation is still not understood. Solute carrier family 7 member 11 (slc7a11) has been identified to be a critical genetic regulator of pheomelanin synthesis in the skin of mammals. However, little information is available about its molecular characteristics, expression, location and function in skin color differentiation of fish. In this study, three complete cDNA sequences (2159 bp, 2190 bp and 2249 bp) of slc7a11 were successfully isolated from Malaysian red tilapia, encoding polypeptides of 492, 525 and 492 amino acids respectively. Quantitative real-time PCR demonstrated that slc7a11 mRNA expression is high in the ventral skin of PR (pink with scattered red spots) fish. Immunofluorescence analysis revealed that xCT (the protein encoded by slc7a11) was concentrated mainly in the cytoplasm and nucleus of both the dorsal and ventral skin cells of fish. After RNA interference of slc7a11, slc7a11 and cbs mRNA expressions decreased, but the tyr mRNA expression increased in the skin of fish. Results suggest that slc7a11 plays an important role in skin color formation and differentiation of red tilapia through the melanogenesis pathway.