Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology
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2022
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IF 6.081
Zhou Tong,Chen Guobin,Chen Meng,Wang Yubin,Zou Guiwei,Liang Hongwei
Sex dimorphism is a key feature of Chinese soft-shelled turtle (Pelodiscus sinensis). The males (M) have higher econosmic value than females (F) due to wider calipash and faster growth. Exogenous hormones like estradiol and methyltestosterone can induce sexual reversal to form new phenotypes (pseudo-female, PF; pseudo-male, PM) without changing the genotype. The possibility of inducing sexual reversal is particularly important in aquaculture breeding, but the underlying biological mechanisms remain unclear. Here we applied a direct RNA sequencing method with ultralong reads using Oxford Nanopore Technologies to study the transcriptome complexity in P. sinensis. Nanopore sequencing of the four gender types (M, F, PF, and PM) showed that the distribution of read length and gene expression was more similar between same-sex phenotypes than same-sex genotypes. Compared to turtles with an M phenotype, alternative splicing was more pronounced in F turtles, especially at alternative 3′ splice sites, alternative 5′ splice sites, and alternative first exons. Furthermore, the two RNA methylation modifications m5C and m6A were differentially distributed across gender phenotypes, with the M type having more modification sites in coding sequence regions, but fewer modification sites in 3′UTR regions. Quantitative analysis of enriched m6A RNAs revealed that the N6-methylated levels of Odf2, Pacs2, and Ak1 were significantly higher in M phenotype individuals, while the N6-methylated levels of Ube2o were reduced after sexual reversal from both M and F phenotypes. Taken together, these findings reveal an important role of epigenetics during sexual reversal in Chinese soft-shelled turtles.
研究领域:
发育生物学
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分子生物学
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水产养殖学
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DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
JOURNAL OF FOOD COMPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
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2020
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IF 3.721
Chen Weng,Ze-Yuan Deng,Niu Zhang,Qian Zou,Ya-Wei Fan,Rong Liu,Liu-Feng Zhen,Jing Li
Studies have shown potential beneficial functions of turtle eggs, but the mechanism is not clear. The species and content of lipids have a significant impact on human health. The major lipid classes and fatty acids composition of dried Chinese soft-shell turtle eggs were characterized with the aim of clarifying the potential beneficial functions of turtle eggs from the perspective of lipid nutrition. 100 g dried turtle eggs power contained an average of 24.7 g of triacylglycerol (TAG), 1.24 g of phospholipid (PL) and 0.72 g of cholesterol. The striking feature of the lipid composition was the abundant n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, resulting in an excellent n-6/n-3 ratio (1.27) and low atherogenic index (AI) and thrombogenic index (TI) values, which were considered to be a healthier option for the human diet. A total of 85 TAG molecular species and 95 PL molecular species were obtained by lipidomics. ΣcisC18:1, C18:2n-6 and C18:3n-3 were preferentially esterified at sn-2 position of TAG. Phosphatidylcholine (PC) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) accounted for more than 90 % of the PL, while no sphingomyelin (SM) was detected. C22:6n-3 and C20:5n-3 were preferentially bound to PE and lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) respectively.
研究领域:
营养学
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生物化学
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DOI
高影响因子
LWT-FOOD SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
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2025
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IF 6.6
Jiandong Shen,Bijiang Zhong,Lijun Fu,Bingyan Liu,Wenshui Xia,Qixing Jiang
Aquatic animals are vital source for peptides, while information on antioxidant peptides of Chinese softshell turtle is scarce. The objective of this study was to optimize the production of turtle protein hydrolysate (PTH) by proteinase hydrolysis and evaluate its functional property and antioxidant activity. Results revealed that TPH from turtle protein was hydrolysed using protamex. Under the optimum condition (enzyme-substrate ratio of 3500 U/g, pH 7.0, temperature of 50 °C, and 4 h), TPH had the highest 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity, with the degree of hydrolysis (DH) of 21.27 ± 1.32%. Obtained TPH contained a high percentage of essential amino acids and its molecular weight of<3000 Da accounted for 99.61%. The solubility of TPH was more than 80% when pH was below 4.0 or above 5.0, and there was no significant difference in its solubility when temperature was 40–100 °C. Meanwhile, TPH exhibited higher emulsifying activity index and the emulsion stability index at pH 7.0 and 10.0. Antioxidant activity studies showed that DPPH scavenging activity, reducing power and ferrous chelating activity of TPH were attained depending on the concentration of hydrolysate. All results indicated that the functional and antioxidant properties of TPH could be beneficial for its application in functional food.
研究领域:
食品科学
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生物化学
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DOI
高影响因子
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL MACROMOLECULES
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2023
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IF 8.2
Junxian Zhu,Yongchang Wang,Luo Lei,Chen Chen,Liqin Ji,Jiansong Li,Congcong Wu,Wenjun Yu,Laifu Luo,Weiqin Chen,Pan Liu,Xiaoyou Hong,Xiaoli Liu,Haigang Chen,Chengqing Wei,Xinping Zhu,Wei Li
A feature of the Chinese soft-shelled turtle ( Pelodiscus sinensis ) is seasonal spermatogenesis ; however, the underlying molecular mechanism is not well clarified. Here, we firstly cloned and characterized P. sinensis DKKL1 , and then performed comparative genomic studies, expression analysis, and functional validation. P. sinensis DKKL1 had 2 putative N-glycosylation sites and 16 phosphorylation sites. DKKL1 also had classic transmembrane structures that were extracellularly localized. DKKL1 's genetic distance was close to turtles, followed by amphibians and mammals, but its genetic distance was far from fishes. DKKL1 genes from different species shared distinct genomic characteristics. Meanwhile, they were also relatively conserved among themselves, at least from the perspective of classes. Notably, the transcription factors associated with spermatogenesis were also identified, containing CTCF , EWSR1 , and FOXL2 . DKKL1 exhibited sexually dimorphic expression only in adult gonads, which was significantly higher than that in other somatic tissues ( P < 0.001), and was barely expressed in embryonic gonads. DKKL1 transcripts showed a strong signal in sperm, while faint signals were detected in other male germ cells. DKKL1 in adult testes progressively increased per month ( P < 0.05), displaying a seasonal expression trait. DKKL1 was significantly downregulated in testes cells after the sex hormones (17β-estradiol and 17α-methyltestosterone) and Wnt/β-catenin inhibitor treatment ( P < 0.05). Likewise, the Wnt/β-catenin inhibitor treatment dramatically repressed CTCF, EWSR1, and FOXL2 expression. Conversely, they were markedly upregulated after the 17β-estradiol and 17α-methyltestosterone treatment, suggesting that the three transcription factors might bind to different promoter regions, thereby negatively regulating DKKL1 transcription in response to the changes in the estrogen and androgen pathways, and positively controlling DKKL1 transcription in answer to the alterations in the Wnt/β-catenin pathway. Knockdown of DKKL1 significantly reduced the relative expression of HMGB2 and SPATS1 ( P < 0.01), suggesting that it may be involved in seasonal spermatogenesis of P. sinensis through a positive regulatory interaction with these two genes. Overall, our findings provide novel insights into the genome evolution and potential functions of seasonal spermatogenesis of P. sinensis DKKL1 .
研究领域:
基因组学
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生殖生物学
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分子生物学
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比较基因组学
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DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
ECOTOXICOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY
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2023
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IF 6.8
Jing Xiang,Hao Wu,Jinwei Gao,Weimin Jiang,Xing Tian,Zhonggui Xie,Tao Zhang,Jia Feng,Rui Song
Niclosamide (NIC) is the only commercially available molluscicide for controlling schistosomiasis, and its negative effects on aquatic animals had been frequently reported in recent years. However, the toxicity mechanism of NIC on the Chinese soft-shelled turtle ( Pelodiscus sinensis ) have not yet been investigated. Therefore, juvenile turtles were exposed to 0 (control group), 10 (low NIC, L), and 50 (high NIC, H) μg/L NIC for 120 h and our results demonstrated that NIC exposure induced severe pathological changes in the liver of P. sinensis . And the typical symptom included edema, nuclear migration and deformation, and vacuolization. Compared with the liver, the NIC exposure did not cause significant damage in the gut tissue. In addition, the DHE staining demonstrated that the ROS production of liver and gut increased with the increase in concentration of NIC. The activities of antioxidant enzymes including superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), catalase (CAT) was inhibited with increased malondialdehyde (MDA) content, indicating that the antioxidant defense was significantly perturbed. Further, the transcriptome sequencing and was applied to evaluate the underlying toxicity mechanisms of NIC exposure in liver and gut of P. sinensis . Pathway enrichment showed that the disorder of lipid metabolism and innate immune regulation, including Toll-like receptors (TLRs), tumor necrosis factor (TNF), lectins, and complement and coagulation cascades, were toxicological properties of NIC on P. sinensis . Overall, the current study provides valuable information to understand the toxic effect of NIC on Chinese soft-shelled turtle.
研究领域:
环境毒理学
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分子生物学
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DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
GENE
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2023
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IF 3.5
Haoran Zhang,Yijie Gao,Guiyu Wang,Qingqing Xin,Xue Tian,Limin Wu,Xi Shi,Wenge Ma,Huifen Liu,Hongxia Jiang,Qisheng Wu,Xuejun Li,Xiao Ma
Sirt1 is a member of the Sirtuins family that regulates ovarian senescence, follicular development, and oocyte maturation in vertebrates. To understand its role in the ovary of Pelodiscus sinensis , we cloned the full-length cDNA of Ps-Sirt1 and characterized its potential function by intraperitoneally injecting agonist (resveratrol) and antagonist (EX527) in the female juvenile turtle. The full-length cDNA of Ps - Sirt1 was 2106 bp, comprising 203 bp 5′UTR, a 226 bp 3′UTR, and a 1677 bp ORF encoding 558 amino acids. The calculated molecular weight of predicted protein was 63 kDa, and the isoelectric point was 4.65. The predicted protein comprised a conserved Sir2 domain. Amino acid sequence alignment and phylogenetic analyses showed that Ps - Sirt1 was most closely related to turtles, and distantly related to fish. Expression pattern analysis showed Ps-Sirt1 was highest expressed in ovary, followed by testis, liver, heart, and brain. In the ovarian differentiation processes, Sirt1 showed significantly higher expression at embryonic stage 15 and 21. In the testis differentiation process, Sirt1 expression was downregulated at embryonic stages 15–19. Activated and inactivated Sirt1 decreased the number of primordial follicles in juvenile turtles. Bcl2 , Bax , mTOR , and rpS6 expressions were up-regulated, whereas GnRH , Fshb , p50 , and p65 were down-regulated after agonist treatment. The inaction of Sirt1 with antagonist up-regulated GnRH , Fshb , p65 , p53 , Foxo3a , Bcl2 , Bax , mTOR , and rpS6 , but down-regulated p50 . In summary, Sirt1 might be involved in the ovarian follicle development of P. sinensis .
研究领域:
分子生物学
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生殖生物学
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比较生理学
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DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
Food & Function
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2023
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IF 6.1
Jiachen Zhuang,Qianqian Wang,Fei Shen,Jing Wang,Juan Du,Peng Yu,Fengqin Feng,Minjie Zhao
This study investigated the immunomodulatory effects of soft-shelled turtle (Pelodiscus sinensis) peptide (TP) and Chinese pond turtle (Chinemys reevesii) peptide (TMP) on the intestinal mucosal immune system (IMIS). The results demonstrated that TP and TMP improved holistic immunity by restoring the vital immune organ atrophy and proliferation capacity of spleen immune cells. Moreover, TP and TMP significantly increased the serum content of IgA and cytokines that are responsible for immune cell activation and antigen clearance. TP and TMP promoted intestinal B cell activation, class switching recombination, and antibody secreting processes in a T cell-independent manner to increase the SIgA content. Furthermore, TP and TMP enhanced the intestinal barrier by increasing the protein expression of tight junctions (TJs) and adhesion junctions (AJs) and ameliorating the intestinal morphology. Mechanistically, TP and TMP activated the AHR/IL-22/STAT3/IL-6 axis to enhance the IgA response and improve the intestinal barrier, indicating their potential in intestinal health modulation.
研究领域:
免疫学
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胃肠病学
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药理学
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产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
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