Metabolic Physiology Under Environmental Coercion

A special issue of Metabolites (ISSN 2218-1989). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Metabolomics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 May 2025 | Viewed by 1826

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Laboratory of Quality & Safety Risk Assessment for Aquatic Products (Harbin), Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Areas, Heilongjiang River Fisheries Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Harbin 150070, China
Interests: metabolic physiology; metabolomics; environmental toxicology

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Guest Editor
Key Laboratory of Testing and Evaluation for Aquatic Product Safety and Quality, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China
Interests: natural marine toxins; food safety and risk assessment; detoxification; biotransformation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
College of Animal Science and Technology, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China
Interests: genetic breeding of aquatic animals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Environmental stresses can disrupt the balance and coordination between aquatic animals and their environment, leading to disruptions in their normal physiological functions. Various omics technologies have developed rapidly and have become powerful tools for the study of aquatic organisms in recent years. As the essential parts of systems biology, metabolomics is a tool for studying the close connection between metabolites and endogenous or exogenous stimuli. Unlike gene expression studies or proteomic analyses, which reveal only a portion of the behavior occurring in a cell, metabolomic analyses describe the complete physiological state of an organism's components or cells at a given moment in time.

This Special Issue publishes original research articles and review articles on the aspects of metabolites and metabolisms relevant to the fields of metabolomics, metabolic biochemistry, systems biology, biotechnology, and medicine. The focus is on the reaction mechanisms of organisms to the adverse external environment and metabolomics of biological stress-resistant growth under environmental coercion, including, but not limited to, physiological metabolic mechanisms, morphological structure changes, transcriptome analysis, genomic analysis, and intestinal microbiome research.

The purpose of establishing a Special Issue is to establish a separate metabolomics column. Changes in the environment may strongly affect aquatic organisms at the physiological, behavioral, and molecular levels, leading to the mass mortality of aquatic organisms and consequent degradation of genetic resources. Therefore, there is a need to better understand the mechanisms of response and adaptation in aquatic animals to the metabolisms of multiple environmental stressors.

Prof. Dr. Yanchun Sun
Prof. Dr. Zhijun Tan
Dr. Shuqun Xue
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • metabolic physiology
  • metabolomics
  • environmental toxicology

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 3597 KiB  
Article
Exploring Disparities in Gill Physiological Responses to NaHCO3-Induced Habitat Stress in Triploid and Diploid Crucian Carp (Carassius auratus): A Comprehensive Investigation Through Multi-Omics and Biochemical Analyses
by Shicheng Han, Lin Han, Fangying Yuan, Wenzhi Liu, Jing Wang, Xiaofeng Jin and Yanchun Sun
Metabolites 2025, 15(1), 5; https://doi.org/10.3390/metabo15010005 - 30 Dec 2024
Viewed by 637
Abstract
Background: Owing to the progressive rise in saline waters globally, resulting in detrimental impacts on freshwater aquaculture, the underlying molecular distinctions governing the response to alkaline stress between diploid and triploid crucian carp remain unknown. Methods: This investigation explores the effects [...] Read more.
Background: Owing to the progressive rise in saline waters globally, resulting in detrimental impacts on freshwater aquaculture, the underlying molecular distinctions governing the response to alkaline stress between diploid and triploid crucian carp remain unknown. Methods: This investigation explores the effects of 20 and 60 mmol NaHCO3 stress over 30 days on the gills of diploid and triploid crucian carp, employing histological, biochemical, and multi-omic analyses. Results: Findings reveal structural damage to gill lamellas in the examined tissue. Diploid crucian carp exhibit heightened activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), and alkaline phosphatase (AKP), alongside lower malondialdehyde (MDA) and urea nitrogen (BUN) levels compared to triploid counterparts. Metabolomic investigations suggest alterations in purine metabolism, lipid metabolism, sphingolipid metabolism, and aminoglycan and nucleotide sugar metabolism following NaHCO3 exposure. Transcriptomic data indicate differential expression of genes associated with nitrogen metabolism, complement and coagulation cascades, IL-17 signaling pathways, and Toll-like receptor signaling pathways. Conclusions: Overall, NaHCO3-induced stress leads to significant gill tissue damage, accompanied by reactive oxygen species (ROS) production causing oxidative stress and disruptions in lipid metabolism in crucian carp. Furthermore, an inflammatory response in gill cells triggers an immune response. Diploid crucian carp exhibit superior antioxidant and immune capacities compared to triploid counterparts, while also displaying reduced inflammatory responses in vivo. Notably, diploid carp efficiently excrete excess BUN through purine metabolism, mitigating protein metabolism and amino acid imbalances caused by BUN accumulation. This enables them to allocate less energy for coping with external environmental stress, redirecting surplus energy toward growth and development. The above results indicate that diploid organisms can better adapt to saline–alkaline environments. Overall, this study provides novel perspectives into species selection of crucian carp of different ploidy in saline–alkaline waters. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metabolic Physiology Under Environmental Coercion)
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15 pages, 3111 KiB  
Article
Analysis of Immunosuppression and Antioxidant Damage in Diploid and Triploid Crucian Carp (Carassius auratus) Induced by Saline-Alkaline Environmental Stress: From Metabolomic Insight
by Fangying Yuan, Xiaofeng Wei, Dongping Li, Xiaofeng Jin, Jing Wang and Yanchun Sun
Metabolites 2024, 14(12), 721; https://doi.org/10.3390/metabo14120721 - 21 Dec 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 908
Abstract
Objectives: The salinization of the water environment worldwide is increasing, which has brought great challenges to the sustainability of fish farming of aquatic animals. Methods: Three NaHCO3 concentration groups (0 mmol/L, 20 mmol/L, and 60 mmol/L) were set up in this study [...] Read more.
Objectives: The salinization of the water environment worldwide is increasing, which has brought great challenges to the sustainability of fish farming of aquatic animals. Methods: Three NaHCO3 concentration groups (0 mmol/L, 20 mmol/L, and 60 mmol/L) were set up in this study to investigate growth and metabolic differences between diploid and triploid crucian carp under saline-alkaline stresses. Purpose: This study utilized UPLC-QTOF/MS metabolomics to analyze significant metabolites and metabolic pathways in the serum of diploid and triploid crucian carp, exposing them to different NaHCO3 concentrations in saline-alkaline habitats, elucidating the mechanism of their metabolic differences. Results: Results revealed that in the CA20 group, diploid and triploid crucian carp shared 69 differential metabolites, primarily enriched in pathways such as sphingolipid metabolism, glycerophospholipid metabolism, and linoleic acid metabolism. In the CA60 group, 46 differentially metabolites (DMs) were identified, mainly enriched in pathways such as linoleic acid metabolism, unsaturated fatty acid biosynthesis and sphingolipid metabolism. Conclusions: The analysis indicated that under different carbonate-saline-alkaline concentrations, diploid and triploid crucian carp primarily enriched in metabolic pathways such as glycerophospholipid metabolism, sphingolipid metabolism, and unsaturated fatty acid biosynthesis. With increasing carbonate-alkaline concentrations, hemolytic phospholipids associated with cell apoptosis were significantly upregulated and sphingolipid metabolism related to inflammation was more significantly enriched in triploid crucian carp, indicating that triploid crucian carp exhibited significant sensitivity to high carbonate-saline-alkaline stress and poorer carbonate-saline-alkaline tolerance. The results of this study provided a scientific theoretical basis for the later cultivation and aquaculture research of saline-alkaline-tolerant fish species. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metabolic Physiology Under Environmental Coercion)
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