Acute hypoxia stress mediates axis to facilitate the infection of in .

INTRODUCTION

Hypoxia stress renders aquatic animals more susceptible to bacterial disease, yet the underlying mechanism remains elusive.

METHODS

We conducted an acute hypoxia stress experiment to investigate the impact of stress on the immune response of via transcriptome analysis, RT-qPCR and Western blot.

RESULTS

Our results showed that acute hypoxia stress disrupted the tissue architecture, and significantly changed the gene expression profiles in the hepatopancreas of shrimp. More importantly, acute hypoxia stress significantly changed the expression levels of immune-related genes. , , , , and were significantly down-regulated, but , , , , and were significantly up-regulated. We further demonstrated that acute hypoxia activated via to enhance expression level of , and then inhibited the phosphorylation of Dorsal and its nuclear translocation, thereby suppressing antibacterial immunity. Subsequently, the challenge experiment following stress revealed that exposure to acute hypoxia stress amplified the infectivity and lethality of to shrimp. The mechanism of axis provided an explanation for this phenomenon.

DISCUSSION

This study offered new insights into interactions among environmental hypoxia stress, host immunity and pathogens, thereby providing practical guidelines for optimizing shrimp culture practices.