Heat stress induced alternative splicing in catfish as determined by transcriptome analysis

Area of Science:

• Aquaculture
• Genomics
• Climate Change Adaptation

Background:

• Heat tolerance is a critical trait for aquaculture species facing climate change.
• Understanding molecular mechanisms of heat tolerance, especially post-transcriptional regulation like alternative splicing, is vital.
• Catfish are economically important aquaculture species, making them a key model for heat stress studies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To characterize changes in alternative splicing in catfish under heat stress.
• To identify genes and pathways involved in heat tolerance at the post-transcriptional level.
• To provide insights into the molecular basis of abiotic stress response in fish.

Main Methods:

• Utilized existing RNA-Sequencing (RNA-Seq) datasets from catfish exposed to heat treatment.
• Differentiated heat-tolerant and -intolerant catfish based on time to lost equilibrium.
• Analyzed differential alternative splicing (DAS) events and performed Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis.

Main Results:

• Heat stress generally increased alternative splicing events in catfish.
• Heat-intolerant fish showed a significant increase in alternative splicing events (29.2%) and genes (25.8%) under thermal stress.
• Genes involved in RNA binding and RNA splicing were significantly enriched in differentially spliced gene sets, highlighting their role in heat response and tolerance.

Conclusions:

• Alternative splicing plays a significant role in the response to heat stress in catfish.
• RNA splicing-related genes are implicated in the molecular mechanisms underlying heat tolerance.
• This study offers a comprehensive view of alternative splicing in fish under heat stress, contributing to understanding abiotic stress adaptation.