Comprehensive Multi-omics Approaches Provide Insights to Summer Mortality in the Clam Meretrix petechialis

Mar Biotechnol (NY). 2024 Mar 14. doi: 10.1007/s10126-024-10304-0. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTBivalve mass mortalities have been reported worldwide, which not only can be explained as a result of pathogen infection, but may reflect changes in environments. Although these episodes were often reported, there was limited information concerning the molecular responses to various stressors leading to summer mortality. In the present work, RNA sequencing (RNA-seq), tandem mass tagging (TMT)-based quantitative proteomics, and 16S rRNA sequencing were used to explore the natural outbreak of summer mortality in the clam Meretrix petechialis. We identified a total of 172 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and 222 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) in the diseased group compared to the normal group. The inconsistent expression profiles of immune DEGs/DEPs may be due to the immune dysregulation of the diseased clams. Notably, 11 solute carrier family genes were found among the top 20 down-regulated genes in the diseased group, indicating that weakened transmembrane transport ability might occur in the diseased clams. Integration analysis of transcriptomic and proteomic results showed that many metabolic processes such as "arginine and proline metabolism" and "tyrosine metabolism" were inhibited in the diseased group, suggesting metabolic inhibition. Moreover, 16S rRNA sequencing revealed that the microbial composition of clam hepatopancreas was disordered in the diseased grou...
Source: Marine Biotechnology - Category: Biotechnology Authors: Source Type: research