In this study, we report the starvation effect and vibriosis infection on a tropical fish, the tiger grouper (Epinephelus fuscoguttatus). The tiger groupers were infected with Vibrio vulnificus for 21 days. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry combined with multivariate analysis was used to assess the variation in metabolite profiles of E. fuscoguttatus. Metabolite productions in infected fishes were significantly influenced by fatty acid production. The Omega 9 (ω-9) was abundant under the challenged conditions compared to Omega 3 (ω-3) and Omega 6 (ω-6). A total of six fatty acids from the ω-9 group were detected in high concentration in the infected fishes compared to the control groupers. These metabolites are Oleic acid, Palmitoleic acid, 6,9-Octadecenoic acid, 8,11-Eicosadienoic acid, cis-Erucic acid and 5,8,11-Eicosatrienoic acid. The production of ω-9 differed significantly (p ≤ 0.001) in the challenged samples. The detected ω-9 compounds were quantified based on three different extraction techniques with Supelco 37-component FAME mix (Supelco, USA). The highest concentration of ω-9 groups compared to the other fatty acids detected is 1320.79 mg/4 g and the lowest is 939 mg/4 g in challenged-starved; meanwhile, in challenged-fed, the highest concentration detected is 1220.87 mg/4 g and the lowest is 917.25 mg/4 g. These changes demonstrate that ω-9 can be used as a biomarker of infection in fish.
Keywords: Epinephelus fuscoguttatus; Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry; Metabolites; Omega 9 (ω-9); Vibrio vulnificus.