Liver transcriptome analysis reveals the energy regulation and functional impairment of Onychosoma sima during starvation

Abstract

Abstract Releasing juvenile fish into the resource-depleted waters, is regarded as an effective way to restore fishery resources. However, during this stage, released fish are most vulnerable to long-term food deprivation due to environmental changes and low adaptability. Therefore, research regarding the energy regulation of fish under starvation stress is crucial to the optimization of release strategies. In this study, we performed a comparative transcriptome analysis of the liver of Onychosoma sima subjected to starvation for 14 days. The results showed that, under long-term starvation, the liver regulated glucose homeostasis by activating the gluconeogenesis pathway. Meanwhile, the fatty acid metabolism pathway was activated to supply acetyl-coA to the TCA cycle pathway, thus increasing mitochondrial ATP production and maintaining the balance of energy metabolism. Nevertheless, the activation of energy metabolism could not completely compensate for the role of exogenous nutrients, as evidenced by the downregulation of many genes involved in antioxidant defenses (e.g., cat, gpx3, mgst1, and mgst2) and immune response (e.g., c3, cd22, trnfrsf14, and a2ml). The consequence is multiple metabolic disorder, and the body resistance weakened. In summary, our data reveal the effects of long-term starvation on the energy metabolism and defensive regulation of released fish, and these findings will provide a new theoretical basis for the optimization of artificial release.