Next Generation Sequencing Facilitates Quantitative Analysis of Wildtype, akr1a1a-/- and Wildtype with Acrolein Treatment Zebrafish Larvae Transcriptomes

Our previous experiments showed the function of Akr1a1a was related to insulin resistance. The knockout of Akr1a1a led to poor acrolein detoxification and accumulated acrolein inhibits insulin receptors (insra/insrb) expression. To understand how the loss of Akr1a1a and acrolein reflects at the transcriptome level, we performed full genome RNA-Seq between akr1a1a+/+, akr1a1a-/- and akr1a1a+/+ with acrolein treatment zebrafish larvae at 120 hpf. An overview of RNA-Seq, including quality control, principal component analysis (PCA), and volcano plots of regulated genes showed comparable properties between akr1a1a mutants, wild type and acrolein treated wild type zebrafish larvae. We found the insulin receptor signaling pathway was down-regulated significantly in akr1a1a mutants and acrolein treated wild type larvae as compared to wild type larvae via gene set enrichment analysis (normalized enrichment score, -1.888, p=0.028; -1.93, p=0.019). Intriguingly, downstream signaling pathways including MAPK, signal transduction by protein phosphorylation and transmembrane receptor protein tyrosine kinase signaling pathway were also significantly down-regulated in akr1a1a mutants and acrolein treated wild type larvae. Taken together, these results further suggest akr1a1a and acrolein as an important regulator in insulin receptor signaling transduction. Furthermore, we offer a comprehensive and more detailed evaluation of mRNA content within zebrafish larvae. We conclude that RNA-seq based transcriptome would clearly illustrate genetic network and clarify complex biological functions. mRNA expression profiles of wildtype, akr1a1a-/- and wildtype with acrolein treatment zebrafish larvae at 120 hours after post fertilization