Abstract
BackgroundCoilia nasus (C. nasus) is an important anadromous fish species that resides in the Yangtze River of China, and has high ecological and economical value. However, wild resources have suffered from a serious reduction in population, attributed to the over-construction of water conservancy projects, overfishing, and environmental pollution. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People’s Republic of China has issued a notice banning the commercial fishing of wild C. nasus in the Yangtze River. Wild C. nasus populations urgently need to recover. A better understanding of C. nasus migration patterns is necessary to maximize the efficiency of conservation efforts. Juvenile C. nasus experience a simultaneous effect of increasing salinity and cold stress during seaward migration, and the brain plays a comprehensive regulatory role during this process. Therefore, to explore the early seaward migration regulation mechanism of juvenile C. nasus, we performed a comparative transcriptome analysis on the brain of juvenile C. nasus under salinity and cold stress simultaneously.ResultsRelevant neurotransmitters, receptors, and regulatory proteins from three categories of regulatory pathway play synergistic regulatory roles during the migration process: neuronal signaling, the sensory system, and environmental adaptation. The significant differential expression of growth-related hormones, thyroid receptors, haptoglobin, and prolactin receptors was similar to the results of relevant research on salmonids and steelhead trout.ConclusionsThis study revealed a regulatory network that the brain of juvenile C. nasus constructs during migration, thereby providing basic knowledge on further studies could build on. This study also revealed key regulatory genes similar to salmonids and steelhead trout, thus, this study will lay a theoretical foundation for further study on migration regulation mechanism of anadromous fish species.
Highlights
Coilia nasus (C. nasus) is an important anadromous fish species that resides in the Yangtze River of China, and has high ecological and economical value
The function of the olfactory system was strengthened and the visual signaling pathways were weakened during juvenile C. nasus seaward migration
The identified significant differential expression of the growth hormone and receptors; the upregulation of the genes which function in maintaining homeostasis of the blood environment, such as haptoglobin and the prolactin receptors, are similar results to those obtained in research on salmonids and steelhead trout smoltification adaptation
Summary
Coilia nasus (C. nasus) is an important anadromous fish species that resides in the Yangtze River of China, and has high ecological and economical value. As a popular Coilia fish species for consumers in China, Coilia nasus (C. nasus) is a precious fish species in the Yangtze River It is one of the “Three Delicious Species in the Yangze River”, with Reeve’s shad (Tenualosa reevesii) and obscure pufferfish (Takifugu fasciatus) being the other two species [1, 2]. It has suffered from a serious population reduction in recent years as a result of the overconstruction of water conservancy projects, overfishing, and environmental pollution [3,4,5].
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