Molecular mechanism of extreme hypoxia tolerance difference between male and female adult fish and juvenile fish of acrossocheilus fasciatus by transcriptomics

Dissolved oxygen in water is an important limiting factor for fish. In this study, the suffocation point and transcriptomes analysis of Acrossocheilus fasciatus with different age and gender are helpful to analyze the effects of gender and age on extreme hypoxia tolerance.

First of all, we compared the difference in tolerance to extreme hypoxia among 15 fish from male adult fish, female adult fish and juvenile fish of Acrossocheilus fasciatus in each group by asphyxiation point experiment. Then, we analyzed the molecular mechanism of extreme hypoxia tolerance difference between male and female adult fish and juvenile fish by transcriptomics.

Female adult fish of Acrossocheilus fasciatus showed the strongest tolerance to extreme hypoxia in the asphyxiation point experiment. In transcriptomes experiments in all samples, we found that the expression of ncoa4 and facl4 was significantly down regulated and the expression of jnk, gpx4 and jip-1 was significantly increased in females adult fish.