1H NMR Metabolomics Reveals Contrasting Response by Male and Female Mussels Exposed to Reduced Seawater pH, Increased Temperature, and a Pathogen

Human activities are fundamentally altering the chemistry of the world's oceans. Ocean acidification (OA) is occurring against a background of warming and an increasing occurrence of disease outbreaks, posing a significant threat to marine organisms, communities, and ecosystems. In the current study, 1H NMR spectroscopy was used to investigate the response of the blue mussel, Mytilus edulis, to a 90-day exposure to reduced seawater pH and increased temperature, followed by a subsequent pathogenic challenge. Analysis of the metabolome revealed significant differences between male and female organisms. Furthermore, males and females are shown to respond differently to environmental stress. While males were significantly affected by reduced seawater pH, increased temperature, and a bacterial challenge, it was only a reduction in seawater pH that impacted females. Despite impacting males and females differently, stressors seem to act via a generalized stress response impacting both energy metabolism and osmotic balance in both sexes. This study therefore has important implications for the interpretation of metabolomic data in mussels, as well as the impact of environmental stress in marine invertebrates in general.

人类活动正从根本上改变全球海洋的化学组成。海洋酸化（Ocean Acidification）正伴随海水升温与病害暴发频次攀升的背景发生，对海洋生物、生物群落及生态系统均构成严重威胁。本研究采用1H核磁共振波谱法（1H Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy），探究了蓝贻贝（Mytilus edulis）在为期90天的低海水pH值与升温暴露后，再经致病性攻毒处理的响应情况。代谢组（metabolome）分析结果显示，该物种雌雄个体间存在显著差异。此外，雌雄个体对环境胁迫的响应模式存在显著分化。雄性个体的生理状态会受到低海水pH值、升温以及细菌攻毒的显著影响，而雌性个体仅受海水pH值降低的影响。尽管各类胁迫对雌雄个体的影响模式存在差异，但它们似乎均通过一套共性胁迫响应通路发挥作用，对两性的能量代谢与渗透平衡均造成影响。因此，本研究不仅为贻贝代谢组学数据的解读提供了重要参考，也为理解环境胁迫对海洋无脊椎动物的整体影响具有重要的科学意义。