Investigating the impact of ocean acidification on anti-stress mechanisms in sepia esculenta larvae based on transcriptome profiling

With the rapid development of oil, energy, power and other industries, CO₂ emissions rise sharply, which will cause a large amount of CO₂ in the air be absorbed by the ocean and lead to ocean acidification. The growth and development of organisms can be seriously affected by acidified seawater. Sepia esculenta is a mollusk with high nutritional and economic value and is widely cultured in offshore waters of China. Larvae are the early life forms of the organism and are more vulnerable to changes in the external environment. Too low pH will lead to some adverse reactions in larvae, which will affect metabolism, immune response and other life activities. In this study, we sequenced the transcriptome of S. esculenta subjected to acidified seawater stress and identified 1072 differentially expressed genes (DEGs). The detected atypical expression of DEGs substantiates cellular malformation and translocation in S. esculenta under low pH stimulation. Simultaneously, this also substantiates the notable impact of ocean acidification on mollusks. These DEGs were used for functional enrichment analysis of GO and KEGG, and the top twenty items of the biological process classification in GO terms and 11 KEGG signaling pathways were significantly enriched. Finally, the constructed protein-protein interaction network (PPI) was used to analyze protein-protein interactions, and 12 key DEGs and 3 hub genes were identified. The reliability of 12 genes was verified by quantitative RT-PCR. A comprehensive analysis of the KEGG signaling pathway and PPI revealed that ocean acidification leads to abnormalities in lipid metabolism in S. esculenta larvae, which can lead to cancer development and metastasis, accompanied by some degree of inflammation. The results of the study will help to further investigate the physiological processes of S. esculenta when stimulated by ocean acidification, and provide a reference to cope with the captive breeding of S. esculenta affected by acidification.

Wang Y., Liu X., Lv T., Wang W., Sun G., Yang J, & Li Z., 2024. Investigating the impact of ocean acidification on anti-stress mechanisms in sepia esculenta larvae based on transcriptome profiling. Journal of Ocean University of China 23: 1054-1066. Article.

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