Search

Enhancing the production of aquatic animals is crucial for fishery management and aquaculture applications. Ovaries are specialized tissues that play critical roles in producing oocytes and hormones. Significant biochemical changes take place during the sexual maturation of Portunus trituberculatus, but the genetics of this process has not been extensively studied. Transcriptome sequencing can be used to determine gene expression changes within specific periods. In the current study, we used transcriptome sequencing to produce a comprehensive transcript dataset for the ovarian development of P. trituberculatus. Approximately 100 million sequencing reads were generated, and 126,075 transcripts were assembled. Functional annotation of the obtained transcripts revealed important pathways in ovarian development, such as those involving the vitellogenin gene. Also, we performed deep sequencing of ovaries in phases III and IV of sexual maturation in P. trituberculatus. Differential analysis of gene expression identified 506 significantly differentially expressed genes, which belong to 20 pathway, transporters, development, transcription factors, metabolism of other amino acids, carbohydrate and lipid, solute carrier family members, and enzymes. Taken together, our study provides the first comprehensive transcriptomic resource for P. trituberculatus ovaries, which will strengthen understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying the sexual maturation process and advance molecular nutritional studies of P. trituberculatus.

In the current study, the therapeutic effects of zeaxanthin dipalmitate (ZD) on a rat alcoholic fatty liver disease (AFLD) model were evaluated. After-treatment with ZD from the 5th week to the 10th week in a 10-week ethanol intragastric administration in rats significantly alleviated the typical AFLD symptoms, including reduction in rat body weight, accumulation of hepatic fat droplets, occurrence of oxidative stress, inflammation, chemoattractive responses and hepatic apoptosis in the liver. The reduction of liver function abnormalities by ZD was partly through lower expression level of cytochrome P450 2E1 (CYP2E1), diminished activity of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) through the restoration of its inhibitor kappa B alpha (IκBα), and the modulation of MAPK pathways including p38 MAPK, JNK and ERK. ZD treatment alone did not pose obvious adverse effect on the healthy rat. In the cellular AFLD model, we also confirmed the inhibition of p38 MAPK and ERK abolished the beneficial effects of ZD. These results provide a scientific rationale for the use of zeaxanthin and its derivatives as new complementary agents for the prevention and treatment of alcoholic liver diseases.