Genetically Based Physiological Responses to Overwinter Starvation in Gibel Carp (Carassius gibelio).

Abstract

Normally, fish will decrease food intake or even stop feeding during the winter. In previous studies, two widely cultured gibel carp strains (strain A and strain F) showed differences in lipid and glucose metabolism. Therefore, we hypothesized that the physiological changes during the overwintering period would be different between the two strains. Thus, the two strains were starved for 77 days, after which the levels of glucose and lipid metabolism, ER stress, autophagy, and apoptosis were determined. The starvation increased hepatic glycogenolysis and fatty acid β-oxidation but suppressed lipogenesis in both strains overwintering. Considering the effects of genotype, strain F had higher levels of ER stress and autophagy but lower levels of apoptosis than strain A, suggesting that strain F might be more resistant to overwintering starvation. The interactions between strains and starvation periods were observed in plasma triglyceride contents and the mRNA levels of pyruvate kinase (pk), sterol regulatory element binding protein 1 (srebp1), activating transcription factor 4 (atf4), and autophagy protein 12 (atg12). In conclusion, long-term starvation during winter could induce hepatic glycogenolysis and fatty acid β-oxidation but suppress lipogenesis, ER stress, autophagy, and apoptosis in gibel carp, and strain F may be more resistant to starvation during winter. Taken together, these results discovered the responses to prolonged starvation stress during winter in two strains of gibel carp and could provide information for genotype selection, especially for selecting strains better adapted to winter.

• Authors: Wenjie Xu, Hongyan Li, Liyun Wu, Bo Dong, Junyan Jin, Dong Han, Xiaoming Zhu, Yunxia Yang, Haokun Liu, Shouqi Xie
• Journal: Frontiers in endocrinology (Front Endocrinol (Lausanne)) Vol. 11 Pg. 578777 ( 2020) ISSN: 1664-2392 [Print] Switzerland
• PMID: 33329387 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)
• Copyright: Copyright © 2020 Xu, Li, Wu, Dong, Jin, Han, Zhu, Yang, Liu and Xie.

Chemical References

• Glucose

Topics

• Animals
• Apoptosis
• Autophagy
• Carps (physiology)
• Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress
• Gene Expression Profiling
• Glucose (metabolism)
• Lipogenesis
• Seasons
• Starvation