ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Physiol.
Sec. Aquatic Physiology
This article is part of the Research TopicPhysiological Regulation in Species Infections: Investigating Pathogen-Host Dynamics and Stress Responses in Aquatic OrganismsView all 5 articles
Transcriptome analysis reveals physiological responses in liver tissues of Epinephelus cyanopodus under acute hypoxic stress
Provisionally accepted
Qiaoyi Chen1Yukun Huang1Zhiya Yu1Wenjie He1Xueqin Hu1Jinhui Wu2Tianguang Cai1Yuhua Cui1
Along Gao1*Hu Shu1*- 1Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, China
- 2Agro-Tech Extension Center of Guangdong Province, Guangzhou, China
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Dissolved oxygen (DO) in aquatic ecosystems plays a pivotal role in fish farming, serving as a critical determinant for the sustainable development of aquaculture practices. When fish suffer hypoxic stress, they undergo a cascade of physiological adaptations. In this study, healthy Epinephelus cyanopodus were subjected to experimental treatments under normoxic (6.0 ± 0.05 mg/L) and hypoxic (1.6 ± 0.05 mg/L) conditions for 1 (H1), 3 (H3), 6 (H6), and 9 (H9) h to evaluate physiological responses. Liver RNA-seq analysis identified 6152 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between the control group (H0) and the four hypoxia-treated groups (H1, H3, H6, H9). RNA-seq results indicated that hypoxia for 3-6 h was the key duration when significant physiological changes occurred in E. cyanopodus. KEGG enrichment analysis revealed significant involvement of these DEGs in key hypoxia-responsive pathways, including HIF-1 signaling, Glutathione metabolism, p53 signaling, PPAR signaling, and PI3K-Akt signaling pathways. These DEGs primarily played function in biological processes, including glycolysis /gluconeogenesis (aldob, hk, ldh-a, pparα, eno1, gpt), pyruvate metabolism (aldocb, ldh-a, fabp1), immune response (pnp, cxcl5, tnf-α, il1-β, il12-β), and apoptosis regulation (bax, bcl2, casp3). Their coordinated expression played a crucial role in mediating hypoxic adaptation of the liver and brain in E. cyanopodus. Three immune-related enzymes (AKP, ALT, AST), and two metabolic-related enzymes (GLU, LDH) were significantly expressed at 3 and 6 h. These results exactly proved that 3-6 h of hypoxic stress was the key period when E. cyanopodus experienced significant physiological changes. This study elucidated key physiological response changes underlying hypoxic stress in E. cyanopodus, which provided both theoretical framework for understanding hypoxic adaptation and practical insights for developing hypoxia-resistant breeding strategies.
Keywords: Epinephelus cyanopodus, Hypoxic stress, RNA-Seq, Metabolism, immune response
Received: 02 Sep 2025; Accepted: 18 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Chen, Huang, Yu, He, Hu, Wu, Cai, Cui, Gao and Shu. 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:
Along Gao, algao@gzhu.edu.cn
Hu Shu, shuhu001@126.com
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