Validation and Functional Analysis of Reference and Tissue-Specific Genes in Adipose Tissue of Freshwater Drum, Aplodinotus grunniens, under Starvation and Hypothermia Stress

Miaomiao Xue; Haibo Wen; Pao Xu; Jianxiang Chen; Qingyong Wang; Yongkai Tang; Xueyan Ma; Guohua Lv; Hongxia Li; Changyou Song

doi:10.3390/cells12091328

Validation and Functional Analysis of Reference and Tissue-Specific Genes in Adipose Tissue of Freshwater Drum, Aplodinotus grunniens, under Starvation and Hypothermia Stress

Cells. 2023 May 6;12(9):1328. doi: 10.3390/cells12091328.

Authors

Miaomiao Xue¹, Haibo Wen^{1

2}, Pao Xu^{1

2}, Jianxiang Chen¹, Qingyong Wang¹, Yongkai Tang^{1

2}, Xueyan Ma^{1

2}, Guohua Lv^{1

2}, Hongxia Li^{1

2}, Changyou Song^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Wuxi Fisheries College, Nanjing Agricultural University, Wuxi 214081, China.
² Key Laboratory of Freshwater Fisheries and Germplasm Resources Utilization, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Freshwater Fisheries Research Center, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Wuxi 214081, China.

Abstract

Adipose tissue is critical to the growth, development, and physiological health of animals. Reference genes play an essential role in normalizing the expression of mRNAs. Tissue-specific genes are preferred for their function and expression in specific tissues or cell types. Identification of these genes contributes to understanding the tissue-gene relationship and the etiology and discovery of new tissue-specific targets. Therefore, reference genes and tissue-specific genes in the adipose tissue of Aplodinotus grunniens were identified to explore their function under exogenous starvation (1 d, 2 w, 6 w) and hypothermic stress (18 °C and 10 °C for 2 d and 8 d) in this study. Results suggest that 60SRP was the most stable reference gene in adipose tissue. Meanwhile, eight genes were validated as tissue-specific candidates from the high-throughput sequencing database, while seven of them (ADM2, β₂GP1, CAMK1G, CIDE3, FAM213A, HSL, KRT222, and NCEH1) were confirmed in adipose tissue. Additionally, these seven tissue-specific genes were active in response to starvation and hypothermic stress in a time- or temperature-dependent manner. These results demonstrate that adipose-specific genes can be identified using stable internal reference genes, thereby identifying specific important functions under starvation and hypothermic stress, which provides tissue-specific targets for adipose regulation in A. grunniens.

Keywords: Aplodinotus grunniens; abdominal fat; cold stress; feed-restriction; tissue-specific genes.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adipose Tissue
Animals
Fresh Water
Hypothermia* / genetics
Perciformes*
Temperature

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the Innovation Project of Jiangsu Agriculture Science and Technology (SCX (20)2025); the National Nonprofit Institute Research Grant of Freshwater Fisheries Research Center, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences (2021JBFM13, 2020JBFR03, 2020JBFM02); the Central Public Interest Scientific Institution Basal Research Fund, CAFS (2020TD62); and the Science and Technology Development Fund of Wuxi City (N20203008).