Discovery of Sex-Determining Genes in Portunus trituberculatus: A Comparison of Male and Female Transcriptomes During Early Developmental Stages

Portunus trituberculatus is one of the main mariculture crabs of high economic value. To identify genes involved in sex determination, we first performed sex-specific transcriptome sequencing at six larval development stages using a DNA/RNA co-extraction method. A total of 907,952,938 and 828,774,880 reads were obtained from female and male crabs, respectively. 2,379 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were found between females and males, and were mainly enriched in DNA replication, folate biosynthesis, and retinol metabolism pathways. Furthermore, transcription patterns of genes in the sex-determining region (SD) were analyzed based on the transcriptome data, and one Dmrt gene (PtDMY) was found to be exclusively expressed in males during early developmental stages. Notably, some known sex-related genes, including IAG, Dmrt11E, DmrtB1, and DmrtC2 were significantly down-regulated after knocking down PtDMY. Our results suggested that PtDMY is involved in sex determination and may be one of the key upstream regulators of the sex determination pathway. In addition, the massive volume of transcriptome data obtained in this study provided an important basis for the systematic study of sex determination mechanisms in P. trituberculatus.

Plasma Lipidome Acts As Diagnostic Marker and Predictor for Cyclosporin Response in Patients with Aplastic Anemia

Background：The lipid metabolomic profile has been well defined in the pathogenesis and differential diagnosis in patients with different myeloid diseases. However, the role of plasma lipidome was rarely explored, especially in aplastic anemia (AA), a disease which has close connection with lipid metabolism. Methods: Peripheral fasting serum levels of patients newly diagnosed with AA from March 2019 to December 2019 were measured by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) for the serum lipid profiles. Meanwhile, the lipidomes for patients with hypocellular myelodysplastic syndrome (h-MDS) and age and sex matched healthy volunteers were taken as controls. The lipid profiles were tested again 6 months after standard cyclosporin A（CsA）treatment in patients with AA. For all the patients, those with a history of hyperlipidemia, diabetes, obesity (body mass index > 28 kg/m 2) or complications with other malignant diseases at diagnosis were excluded. Results: The study enrolled 15 patients with AA, 11 patients with h-MDS and 20 healthy controls. All the enrolled AA patients were non-severe and transfusion dependent, and were treated with CsA 3-5mg/kg/d for at least 6 months. For h-MDS patients, five were MDS with single lineage dysplasia, three were MDS with multilineage dysplasia, and three were MDS-Excess Blasts 1 (MDS-RAEB1). Metabolites in arachidonic acid pathway and retinol metabolism were significantly decreased in the AA patients compared with the healthy controls (P<0.05). AA patients had decreased arachidonic acid pathway metabolites and retinol metabolism-related metabolites as compared with h-MDS（P<0.05), whereas h-MDS patients had increased metabolism of proline and threonine and abnormal sphingolipid metabolism compared with AA patients and the normal controls. After 6-month of CsA treatment, leukotriene B4, 15(S)-HETE, all-trans-retinal and protectin D1 decreased significantly. Patients who had response to CsA had higher levels of baseline protectin D1 (p=0.011), leukotriene B4 (p=0.011), 15(S)-HETE (p=0.004) and all-trans-retinal (p=0.000) than those who had no response. Conclusion: The lipid profiles showed significant difference not only between patients with AA and healthy controls, but also between AA and h-MDS. Meanwhile, some of baseline value and the change in lipid molecules may predict the CsA response at 6 months. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Plasma Lipidome Acts as Diagnostic Marker and Predictor for Cyclosporin Response in Patients with Aplastic Anemia

The lipid metabolomic profile has been well defined in the pathogenesis and differential diagnosis in patients with different myeloid diseases. We assumed that the serum lipid metabolites could also help the diagnosis and prognostic prediction of aplastic anemia (AA). In this study, serum lipid profiles were explored in AA patients before and after cyclosporin (CsA) treatment. Meanwhile, hypocellular myelodysplastic syndrome (h-MDS) patients and the healthy volunteers were compared as controls. 15 AA patients, 11 h-MDS patients and 20 age and sex matched health controls were enrolled. All the AA patients were diagnosed to be non-severe aplastic anemia with transfusion dependency and were treated by CsA 3-5mg/kg/d for at least 6 months. AA patients had decreased arachidonic acid pathway metabolites and retinol metabolism-related metabolites as compared with h-MDS and the health (P<0.05), whereas h-MDS patients had increased metabolism of proline and threonine and abnormal sphingolipid metabolism compared with AA patients and the normal controls. After 6-month of CsA treatment, serum arachidonic acid, PGE2, PGJ2, 15(S)-HETE, leukotriene B4 and Protectin D1 decreased significantly. Patients who had response to CsA had higher levels of baseline protectin D1 (p=0.011), leukotriene B4 (p=0.011), 15(S)-HETE (p=0.004) and all-trans-retinal (p=0.000) than those who had no response.

The Molecular Mechanisms of Suanzaoren Prescription for Anti-Anxiety Were Investigated Based on Network Pharmacology

Anxiety is a common, universal disease caused by psychological and environmental factors. There are medications available to treat anxiety disorders, but these are accompanied by problems such as addiction and withdrawal difficulties. Suanzaoren Prescription (SZRP) is often used to treat anxiety disorders in traditional Chinese medicine clinical practice. However, its therapeutic mechanism remains unclear. This work aims to identify potential core therapeutic targets and predict major bioactive compounds by means of network pharmacology, screen compounds that may bind to anxiety targets by molecular docking methods, and validate and evaluate possible therapeutic mechanisms of compounds for anxiety in vitro cell experiments. Datebase TCMSP, BATMAN-TCM, ETCM, TCMGeneDIT and TCMID was used to obtain SZRP compounds, while TCMSP, BATMAN-TCM and ETCM were used to obtain target of compounds. The targets of anxiety disorders were obtained through database TTD, OMIM, PharmgKB, CTD, DrugBank and Metacore. The network diagram is drawn by Cytoscape 3.7.2 software and STRING. Biological process and KEGG pathway analysis were conducted by MetaCore and NIMNT. AutoDock Vina software was used to conduct molecular docking. The calcium Flux assay was employed to detect the activation of compounds on CNR1 in cell line CHO-K1/CNR1/Gα15. The 545 compounds in SZRP were collected. We found there were 1050 potential targets of these compounds in SZRP which involved in brain disease, mood disorder, endocrine system disease, bipolar disorder, etc. There were 117 potential targets of SZRP against anxiety (such as DRD2, BDNF, COMT, SLC6A4, HTR1A, etc.), which played the roles in regulation of membrane potential and synaptic transmission, nicotine addiction, retinol metabolism, GABAergic and serotonergic synapse, etc. The results of molecular docking indicated there were the biggest affinity between Jujuboside B and DRD2, BDNF, COMT, SLC6A4, Anemarsaponin B_qt and HTR1A, n-methylasimilobine and MAPK3. Based on cell CHO-K1/CNR1/Gα15 and calcium flux technique, we found Chrysophanol, Kaempferol and Emodin have activation effects on CNR1 with EC50 138.3µM, 52.28µM and 56.86µM respectively. These results indicated that the effects of SZRP against anxiety were correlated with synaptic transmission, substance addiction and retinol metabolism, especially targeted on CNR1. It suggested that the therapeutic mechanism of SZRP treating anxiety might be due to the weak action of multiple compounds on multiple pathways and biological processes.

Alterations in Gut Vitamin and Amino Acid Metabolism are Associated with Symptoms and Neurodevelopment in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Metabolic disturbance may be implicated in the pathogenesis of autism. This study aimed to investigate the gut metabolomic profiles of autistic children and to analyze potential interaction between gut metabolites with autistic symptoms and neurodevelopment levels. We involved 120 autistic and 60 neurotypical children. Autistic symptoms and neurodevelopment levels were assessed. Fecal samples were analyzed using untargeted liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry methods. Our results showed the metabolic disturbances of autistic children involved in multiple vitamin and amino acid metabolism pathways, with the strongest enrichment identified for tryptophan metabolism, retinol metabolism, cysteine-methionine metabolism, and vitamin digestion and absorption. Differential gut metabolites were correlated to autistic symptoms and neurodevelopment levels. Our findings improved the understanding of the perturbations of metabolome networks in autism.

Identification of Indicators for Preterm Birth Using Retinoid Metabolites

Metabolites reflect the biochemical dynamics for the maintenance of pregnancy and parturition. UPLC-Q/TOF-MS and LC-MS/MS metabolomics were performed to identify and validate the plasma metabolomic signatures of preterm birth (PTB). We recruited pregnant women between 16 and 40 weeks 5 days gestational age at Ewha Womans Mokdong Hospital for a nested case-control study. In untargeted UPLC-Q/TOF-MS, score plots of partial least-squares discriminant analysis clearly separated the PTB group from the term birth (TB, n = 10; PTB, n = 11). Fifteen metabolites were significantly different between the two groups, as indicated by a variable importance in projection >1 and p < 0.05. Metabolic pathways involving retinol, linoleic acid, D-arginine, and D-ornithine were associated with PTB. Verification by LC-MS/MS focused on retinol metabolism (TB, n = 39; PTB, n = 20). Retinol levels were significantly reduced in PTB compared to TB, while retinal palmitate, all-trans-retinal, and 13-cis-retinoic acid (13cis-RA) significantly increased (p < 0.05). Retinol-binding protein levels were also elevated in PTB. Additionally, all-trans-retinal (AUC 0.808, 95% CI: 0.683–0.933) and 13cis-RA (AUC 0.826, 95% CI: 0.723–0.930) showed improved predictions for PTB-related retinol metabolites. This study suggests that retinoid metabolism improves the accuracy of PTB predictions and plays an important role in maintaining pregnancy and inducing early parturition.

Identification of Proteomic Signatures in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Emphysematous Phenotype

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a highly heterogeneous disease. Emphysematous phenotype is the most common and critical phenotype, which is characterized by progressive lung destruction and poor prognosis. However, the underlying mechanism of this structural damage has not been completely elucidated. A total of 12 patients with COPD emphysematous phenotype (COPD-E) and nine patients with COPD non-emphysematous phenotype (COPD-NE) were enrolled to determine differences in differential abundant protein (DAP) expression between both groups. Quantitative tandem mass tag–based proteomics was performed on lung tissue samples of all patients. A total of 29 and 15 lung tissue samples from patients in COPD-E and COPD-NE groups, respectively, were used as the validation cohort to verify the proteomic analysis results using western blotting. Gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analyses were conducted for DAPs. A total of 4,343 proteins were identified, of which 25 were upregulated and 11 were downregulated in the COPD-E group. GO and KEGG analyses showed that wound repair and retinol metabolism–related pathways play an essential role in the molecular mechanism of COPD emphysematous phenotype. Three proteins, namely, KRT17, DHRS9, and FMO3, were selected for validation. While KRT17 and DHRS9 were highly expressed in the lung tissue samples of the COPD-E group, FMO3 expression was not significantly different between both groups. In conclusion, KRT17 and DHRS9 are highly expressed in the lung tissue of patients with COPD emphysematous phenotype. Therefore, these proteins might involve in wound healing and retinol metabolism in patients with emphysematous phenotype and can be used as phenotype-specific markers.

Metatranscriptomic Analysis Reveals an Imbalance of Hepatopancreatic Flora of Chinese Mitten Crab Eriocheir sinensis with Hepatopancreatic Necrosis Disease

Hepatopancreas necrosis disease (HPND) of the Chinese mitten crab Eriocheir sinensis causes huge economic loss in China. However, the pathogenic factors and pathogenesis are still a matter of dissension. To search for potential pathogens, the hepatopancreatic flora of diseased crabs with mild symptoms, diseased crabs with severe symptoms, and crabs without visible symptoms were investigated using metatranscriptomics sequencing. The prevalence of Absidia glauca and Candidatus Synechococcus spongiarum decreased, whereas the prevalence of Spiroplasma eriocheiris increased in the hepatopancreatic flora of crabs with HPND. Homologous sequences of 34 viral species and 4 Microsporidian species were found in the crab hepatopancreas without any significant differences between crabs with and without HPND. Moreover, DEGs in the hepatopancreatic flora between crabs with severe symptoms and without visible symptoms were enriched in the ribosome, retinol metabolism, metabolism of xenobiotics by cytochrome P450, drug metabolism—cytochrome P450, biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acids, and other glycan degradation. Moreover, the relative abundance of functions of DEDs in the hepatopancreatic flora changed with the pathogenesis process. These results suggested that imbalance of hepatopancreatic flora was associated with crab HPND. The identified DEGs were perhaps involved in the pathological mechanism of HPND; nonetheless, HPND did not occur due to virus or microsporidia infection.

Quercetin Ameliorates Gut Microbiota Dysbiosis That Drives Hypothalamic Damage and Hepatic Lipogenesis in Monosodium Glutamate-Induced Abdominal Obesity

Monosodium glutamate (MSG)-induced abdominal obesity, conventionally caused by hypothalamic damage, is a critical risk factor for health problem. Microbiota-gut-brain axis plays important roles in a variety of metabolic diseases. However, whether gut microbiota is involved in the pathogenesis for MSG-induced abdominal obesity and the effect of quercetin on it remains unclear. Herein, we find that MSG-induced gut microbiota dysbiosis contributes to neuronal damage in the hypothalamus, as indicated by antibiotics-induced microbiota depletion and co-house treatment. Inspired by this finding, we investigate the mechanism in-depth for MSG-induced abdominal obesity. Liver transcriptome profiling shows retinol metabolism disorder in MSG-induced abdominal obese mice. In which, retinol saturase (RetSat) in the liver is notably up-regulated, and the downstream lipogenesis is correspondingly elevated. Importantly, microbiota depletion or co-house treatment eliminates the difference of RetSat expression in the liver, indicating gut microbiota changes are responsible for liver retinol metabolism disorder. Moreover, this study finds dietary quercetin could modulate MSG-induced gut microbiota dysbiosis, alleviate hypothalamic damage and down-regulate liver RetSat expression, thus ameliorating abdominal obesity. Our study enriches the pathogenesis of MSG-induced abdominal obesity and provides a prebiotic agent to ameliorate abdominal obesity.

Transcriptome sequencing and metabolome analysis of food habits domestication from live prey fish to artificial diets in mandarin fish (Siniperca chuatsi)

Background As economical traits, food habits domestication can reduce production cost in aquaculture. However, the molecular mechanism underlying food habits domestication has remained elusive. Mandarin fish (Siniperca chuatsi) only feed on live prey fish and refuse artificial diets. In the present study, we domesticated mandarin fish to feed on artificial diets. The two groups were obtained, the fish did not eat artificial diets or ate artificial diets during all of the three domestication processes, named Group W or X, respectively. Results Using transcriptome and metabolome analysis, we investigated the differentially expressed genes and metabolites between the two groups, and found three common pathways related to food habit domestication, including retinol metabolism, glycerolipid metabolism, and biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acids pathways. Furthermore, the western blotting and bisulfite sequencing PCR analysis were performed. The gene expression of TFIIF and histone methyltransferase ezh1 were significantly increased and decreased in the fish of Group X, respectively. The total DNA methylation levels of TFIIF gene and tri-methylation of histone H3 at lysine 27 (H3K27me3) were significantly higher and lower in the fish of Group X, respectively. Conclusion It was speculated that mandarin fish which could feed on artificial diets, might be attributed to the lower expression of ezh1, resulting in the decreased level of H3K27me3 and increased level of DNA methylation of TFIIF gene. The high expression of TFIIF gene might up-regulate the expression of genes in retinol metabolism, glycerolipid metabolism and glycerophosphoric metabolism pathways. Our study indicated the relationship between the methylation of DNA and histone and food habits domestication, which might be a novel molecular mechanism of food habits domestication in animals.