Comparative analysis of bioenergetic pathways in Medusozoa based on integrated genomic, transcriptomic and proteomic...

Jellyfish possess the biochemical and physiological capabilities that enable them to survive from the beginning of the animal era to the impacts of global warming (ocean warming and deoxygenation) on the seas today. Despite their confirmed ability to bloom, significant gaps remain about the molecular basis of specific physiological responses, and limited data allow us to understand the metabolic pathways that enable medusozoans to transform energy and successfully cope with the challenges the marine environment imposes.

This research integrates and describes prior knowledge (genomic and transcriptomic information) and experimental data (a mitochondrial proteome) to compare, analyze, and reconstruct the major bioenergetic pathways of Medusozoa.

From the conserved glycolytic enzymes to the novel and distinctive molecules enabling jellyfish to build large energy reserves, this manuscript describes the presence of alternative enzymes composing the mitochondrial branched respiratory chain, anaerobic metabolism, and the phosphagen systems in the four classes of true jellyfish.

These results may contribute, from an energetic perspective, to explain the physiological ability of jellyfish to cope with environmental changes by increasing their populations and occupying new environments.