Department of Biology, Gus R. Douglass Institute, West Virginia State University, Institute, WV 25112, USA.
Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA.
Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Sep 1;23(17):9924. doi: 10.3390/ijms23179924.
The habanero pepper () is an increasingly important spice and vegetable crop worldwide because of its high capsaicin content and pungent flavor. Diets supplemented with the phytochemicals found in habanero peppers might cause shifts in an organism's metabolism and gene expression. Thus, understanding how these interactions occur can reveal the potential health effects associated with such changes. We performed transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses of adult flies reared on a habanero pepper diet. We found 539 genes/59 metabolites that were differentially expressed/accumulated in flies fed a pepper versus control diet. Transcriptome results indicated that olfactory sensitivity and behavioral responses to the pepper diet were mediated by olfactory and nutrient-related genes including gustatory receptors (, , and ), odorant receptors (, , , and ), and odorant-binding proteins (, , , , and ). Metabolome analysis revealed that campesterol, sitosterol, and sucrose were highly upregulated and azelaic acid, ethyl phosphoric acid, and citric acid were the major metabolites downregulated in response to the habanero pepper diet. Further investigation by integration analysis between transcriptome and metabolome data at gene pathway levels revealed six unique enriched pathways, including phenylalanine metabolism; insect hormone biosynthesis; pyrimidine metabolism; glyoxylate, and dicarboxylate metabolism; glycine, serine, threonine metabolism; and glycerolipid metabolism. In view of the transcriptome and metabolome findings, our comprehensive analysis of the response to a pepper diet in Drosophila have implications for exploring the molecular mechanism of pepper consumption.
墨西哥胡椒（）因其高辣椒素含量和辛辣风味，成为全球日益重要的香料和蔬菜作物。饮食中补充墨西哥胡椒中含有的植物化学物质可能会导致生物体代谢和基因表达的变化。因此，了解这些相互作用是如何发生的，可以揭示与这些变化相关的潜在健康影响。我们对以墨西哥胡椒为食的成年果蝇进行了转录组和代谢组分析。我们发现，与对照饮食相比，有 539 个基因/59 种代谢物在喂食辣椒的果蝇中差异表达/积累。转录组结果表明，嗅觉敏感性和对辣椒饮食的行为反应是由嗅觉和营养相关基因介导的，包括味觉受体（、、和）、气味受体（、、、和）以及气味结合蛋白（、、、、和）。代谢组分析表明，菜固醇、谷固醇和蔗糖高度上调，而壬二酸、乙基磷酸和柠檬酸则在响应墨西哥胡椒饮食时被下调。通过转录组和代谢组数据在基因途径水平上的整合分析进一步研究发现，有六个独特的富集途径，包括苯丙氨酸代谢；昆虫激素生物合成；嘧啶代谢；乙醛酸和二羧酸代谢；甘氨酸、丝氨酸和苏氨酸代谢；甘油脂代谢。鉴于转录组和代谢组的发现，我们对果蝇对辣椒饮食的反应进行了全面分析，这对探索辣椒消费的分子机制具有重要意义。
