Metabolomic Analysis Reveal the metabolic physiology of Evisceration Behavior in Apostichopus japonicus

In
this study, Ultraperformance liquid chromatography and quadrupole time-of-flight
mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF-MS) was performed on the coelomic fluids of evisceration and
normal sea cucumbers to detect the change of metabolites and metabolic pathways
in the process of evisceration behavior. In total, 9 increased and 11 decreased
metabolites were identified from the eviscerated coelomic fluids of sea
cucumbers. These metabolites included phosphatidylethanolamine, glucosylceramide,
L-tryptophan, carbamic acid, cyclohexylamine and so on. In addition, 5
significant changed signaling pathways are also acquired from the enrichment of
metabolic pathway analyses, and they are “GPI-anchor biosynthesis”, “Regulation
of autophagy”, “Sphingolipid metabolism”, “Nitrogen metabolism”, and “Phenylalanine,
tyrosine and tryptophan biosynthesis”. These results first presented valuable
data of potential physiological mechanisms underlying evisceration behavior of A.
japonicus, which would have important implications for the aquaculture and transportation
of sea cucumbers.

本研究中，采用超高效液相色谱-四极杆飞行时间质谱（UPLC-Q-TOF-MS）对抛肠后与正常海参的体腔液进行检测，以分析抛肠过程中的代谢物与代谢通路变化。总计从抛肠海参的体腔液中鉴定出9种上调代谢物与11种下调代谢物，涵盖磷脂酰乙醇胺（phosphatidylethanolamine）、葡萄糖基神经酰胺（glucosylceramide）、L-色氨酸（L-tryptophan）、氨基甲酸（carbamic acid）、环己胺（cyclohexylamine）等。此外，通过代谢通路富集分析还得到5条显著变化的信号通路，分别为"糖基磷脂酰肌醇锚定生物合成（GPI-anchor biosynthesis）"、"自噬调控（Regulation of autophagy）"、"鞘脂代谢（Sphingolipid metabolism）"、"氮代谢（Nitrogen metabolism）"以及"苯丙氨酸、酪氨酸与色氨酸生物合成（Phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan biosynthesis）"。本研究结果首次为仿刺参（Apostichopus japonicus）抛肠行为的潜在生理机制提供了宝贵数据，该成果对海参的养殖与运输具有重要指导意义。