ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Physiol.
Sec. Aquatic Physiology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphys.2025.1655953
This article is part of the Research TopicInnovations in Aquatic Animal Nutrition and Sustainable Feed DevelopmentView all articles
Interactive effects of salinity and dietary lipid sources on growth, hepatic lipid metabolism, and transcriptomic profiles in Spotted sea bass (Lateolabrax maculatus)
Provisionally accepted
- 1Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China
- 2Tongwei Agricultural Development Co Ltd, Chengdu, China
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This study investigated the interactive effects of salinity and dietary lipid sources on growth performance, hepatic lipid metabolism, and the underlying molecular mechanisms in spotted sea bass (Lateolabrax maculatus). Fish were reared inat 0 ‰ or 20 ‰ salinities and fed diets containing either fish oil (FO) or soybean oil (SO) for 126 days. Results demonstrated that rearing fish at 20 ‰ salinity significantly enhanced growth performance but concurrently increased hepatic lipid accumulation when compared to rearing at 0 ‰ salinity. Under the same salinity conditions, dietary lipid sources had no significant effect on thefish growth performance of fish, however,while compared to FO-based dietfeed, the SO-based diet feed resulted in a significantly increased in hepatic lipid accumulation. Salinity significantly enhancesd the growth-promoting effect of SO-based dietfeed, but it also aggravateds thehepatic lipid accumulation of liver lipids in fish. The combination of salinity and fish oilFO significantly inhibiteds lipid synthesis (FAS and ACC activities) and lipolysisdecomposition (ATGL, MGL activities). RNA-seq identified 9,854 common differentially expressed genes (DEGs), with. GO enrichment analysis revealeding that salinity primarily altered processes related to membrane integrity and energy metabolism, whereas lipid sources regulated organelle structure and fatty acid synthesis.Their interaction regulated catalytic activity and membrane integration processes. KEGG pathway analysis identified salinity-driven shifts in energy/carbohydrate metabolism and lipid-energy sensing, whereas lipid sources dominated fatty acid synthesis. GSEA further highlighted lipid source-dependent regulation of glycerolipid metabolism and unsaturated fatty acid synthesis, alongside salinity-responsive pathways including PPARpar signaling and steroid biosynthesis. Key lipid-related genes (pltp, dgat1, cyp24a1, acadsb) exhibited differential expression patterns modulated by salinity-lipid interactions. These results support the development of precise nutritional strategies for raising spotted sea bass in varying salinity environments. Replacing FO with SO across salinities is viable when combined with functional additives to regulate lipid metabolism; however, adjust SO inclusion rates should be adjusted downward in seawater to minimize lipid accumulation and optimize performance.
Keywords: Dietary lipid sources, Hepatic lipid metabolism, Lateolabrax maculatus, salinity adaptation, Transcriptomic Analysis
Received: 29 Jun 2025; Accepted: 30 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Jin, Zhang, Ai, Mai and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Lu Zhang, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China
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