Project description:Freshwater salinization poses global challenges for aquatic organisms inhabiting urban streams, impacting their physiology and ecology. However, current salinization research predominantly focuses on mortality endpoints in limited model species, overlooking the sublethal effects on a broader spectrum of organisms and the exploration of adaptive mechanisms and pathways under natural field conditions. To address these gaps, we conducted high-throughput sequencing transcriptomic analysis on the gill tissue of the euryhaline fish Gasterosteus aculeatus, investigating its molecular response to salinity stress in the highly urbanized river Boye, Germany. We found that in stream sections with sublethal concentrations of chloride costly osmoregulatory systems were activated, evidenced by the differential expression of genes related to osmoregulation. Our enrichment analysis revealed differentially expressed genes (DEGs) related to transmembrane transport and regulation of transport and other osmoregulation pathways, which aligns with the crucial role of these pathways in maintaining biological homeostasis. Notably, we identified candidate genes involved in increased osmoregulatory activity under salinity stress, including those responsible for moving ions across membranes: ion channels, ion pumps, and ion transporters. Particularly, genes from the solute carrier family SLC, aquaporin AQP1, chloride channel CLC7, ATP-binding cassette transporter ABCE1, and ATPases member ATAD2 exhibited prominent differential expression. These findings provide insights into the potential molecular mechanisms underlying the adaptive response of euryhaline fish to salinity stress and have implications for their conservation and management in the face of freshwater salinization.
Project description:Despite the advances in our understanding of aging-associated behavioral decline, we know relatively little about how aging affect neural circuits that underlie specific behaviors. Specifically, we know little about how aging affect expression of genes in specific neural circuits. We have now addressed this problem by exploring a cholinergic neuron R15, an identified neuron of marine snail Aplysia. R15 is characterized by bursting action potentials and is implicated in reproduction, osmoregulation and locomotion.
Project description:Osmoregulation is essential for the survival of aquatic organisms, particularly teleost fish facing osmotic challenges in variable salinity environments. While gills are traditionally associated with ion exchange, the intestine's role in water and salt absorption is gaining attention. We investigated the adaptive responses of the guppy (Poecilia reticulata) intestine to salinity stress, revealing significant morphological and transcriptomic alterations. Through stepwise salt adaptation experiments, we demonstrated the guppy's remarkable salt tolerance compared to zebrafish. Morphological analysis revealed changes in intestinal epithelial cells, particularly in columnar-shaped enterocytes. Transcriptomic analysis identified key genes involved in osmoregulation, tissue remodeling, and immune modulation. Upregulated genes included SLC transporters (SLC12A1, SLC3A1) facilitating ion and water transport, while Fosl2 and Pik3CB indicated tissue repair and growth responses. Conversely, innate immune system genes (e.g., TNFAIP6) showed downregulation, suggesting a shift towards prioritizing osmoregulatory functions over immune responses. Our findings highlight the intricate mechanisms underlying the guppy's adaptation to salinity stress, emphasizing the adaptive advantage of euryhaline fish and providing insights into osmoregulatory mechanisms in aquatic organisms.
Project description:Background: Salinity is an important abiotic stress that influences the physiological and metabolic activity, reproduction, growth and development of marine fish. It has been suggested that half-smooth tongue sole (Cynoglossus semilaevis), a euryhaline fish species, use a large amount of energy to maintain osmotic pressure balance when exposed to fluctuations in salinity. To delineate the molecular response of C. semilaevis to different levels of salinity, we performed RNA-seq analysis of the liver to identify the genes and molecular and biological processes involved in responding to salinity change. Results: The present study yielded 330.4 million clean reads, of which 83.9% were successfully mapped to the reference genome of C. semilaevis. One hundred twenty-eight differentially expressed genes (DEGs), including 43 up-regulated genes and 85 down-regulated genes, were identified. These DEGs were highly represented in metabolic pathways, steroid biosynthesis, terpenoid backbone biosynthesis, butanoate metabolism, glycerolipid metabolism and the 2-oxocarboxylic acid metabolism pathway. In addition, genes involved in metabolism, osmoregulation and ion transport, signal transduction, immune response and stress response, cytoskeleton remodeling, and apoptosis were affected during acclimation to low salinity. Genes acat2, fdps, hmgcr, hmgcs1, mvk, pmvk, ebp, lss, dhcr7, and dhcr24 were up-regulated and abat, ddc, acy1 were down-regulated in metabolic pathways. Genes aqp10 and slc6a6 were down-regulated in osmoregulation and ion transport. Genes abat, fdps, hmgcs1, mvk, pmvk and dhcr7 were first reported to be associated with salinity adaptation in teleosts. Conclusions: Our results revealed that metabolic pathways, especially lipid metabolism were important for salinity adaptation. The candidate genes identified from this study provide a basis for further studies to investigate the molecular mechanism of salinity adaptation and transcriptional plasticity in marine fish.
Project description:ChIP-seq analysis of SNAIL binding sites in RH30 cells was performed to discover novel SNAIL binding sites in rhabdmyosarcoma cells.