Key Laboratory of Mariculture (Ocean University of China), Ministry of Education, Qingdao 266003, PR China.
Key Laboratory of Mariculture (Ocean University of China), Ministry of Education, Qingdao 266003, PR China.
Int J Biol Macromol. 2020 Jul 15;155:50-60. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2020.03.178. Epub 2020 Mar 24.
Salinity represents a critical environmental factor for fishes, and it can directly influence their survival. Transcriptomic analysis at the gene expression level has been extensively conducted to identify functional genes or pathways involved in salinity adaptation in numerous euryhaline fishes. However, the post-transcriptional regulation mechanism in response to salinity changes remains largely unknown. Alternative splicing (AS), the main mechanism accounting for the complexity of the transcriptome and proteome in eukaryotes, plays essential roles in determining organismal responses to environmental changes. In this study, RNA-Seq datasets were used to examine the AS profiles in spotted sea bass (Lateolabrax maculatus), a typical euryhaline fish species. The results showed that 8618 AS events were identified in spotted sea bass. Furthermore, a total of 501 and 162 differential alternative splicing (DAS) events were characterized in the gill and liver under low- and high-salinity environments, respectively. Based on GO enrichment results, DAS genes in both the gill and liver were commonly enriched in 8 GO terms, and their biological functions were implicated in many stages of gene expression regulation, including transcriptional regulation and post-transcriptional regulation. Sanger sequencing and qPCR validations provided additional evidence to ensure the accuracy and reliability of our bioinformatic results. This is the first comprehensive view of AS in response to salinity changes in fish species, providing insights into the post-regulatory molecular mechanisms of euryhaline fishes in salinity adaptation.
盐度是鱼类生存的关键环境因素之一，它可以直接影响鱼类的生存。大量的研究已经在多种广盐性鱼类中进行了转录组水平的基因表达分析，以鉴定参与盐度适应的功能基因或途径。然而，对于盐度变化的转录后调控机制仍知之甚少。可变剪接（AS）是真核生物转录组和蛋白质组复杂性的主要机制，在决定生物体对环境变化的反应方面起着至关重要的作用。在这项研究中，使用 RNA-Seq 数据集来研究斜带石斑鱼（Lateolabrax maculatus）的 AS 谱，斜带石斑鱼是一种典型的广盐性鱼类。结果表明，在斜带石斑鱼中鉴定出了 8618 个 AS 事件。此外，在低盐度和高盐度环境下，分别在鳃和肝脏中鉴定出了 501 和 162 个差异可变剪接（DAS）事件。基于 GO 富集结果，鳃和肝脏中的 DAS 基因共同富集在 8 个 GO 术语中，其生物学功能涉及到基因表达调控的多个阶段，包括转录调控和转录后调控。Sanger 测序和 qPCR 验证提供了额外的证据，以确保我们的生物信息学结果的准确性和可靠性。这是首次全面观察鱼类对盐度变化的 AS 反应，为了解广盐性鱼类在盐度适应中的后调控分子机制提供了新的视角。
