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. 2023 Jan 29;12(2):212.
doi: 10.3390/biology12020212.

Effects of a High-Fat Diet on Intestinal and Gonadal Metabolism in Female and Male Sea Cucumber Apostichopus japonicus

Shuangyan Zhang  1   2   3   4   5 , Xiaoshang Ru  1   2   3   4   5 , Libin Zhang  1   2   3   4   5 , David Gonçalves  6 , Hongsheng Yang  1   2   3   4   5   7 , Jialei Xu  8
Affiliations

Effects of a High-Fat Diet on Intestinal and Gonadal Metabolism in Female and Male Sea Cucumber Apostichopus japonicus

Shuangyan Zhang et al. Biology (Basel). .

Abstract

Parental nutrient reserves are directly related to reproductive performance in sea cucumbers. This study focused on the lipid requirements of male and female sea cucumbers Apostichopus japonicus during the reproductive stage and analyzed their physiological responses to a high-fat diet (HFD). The intestinal lipid metabolites and microbiome profile changed significantly in animals fed with the HFD, as given by an upregulation of metabolites related to lipid metabolism and an increase in the predominance of Proteobacteria in the microbiome, respectively. The metabolic responses of male and female sea cucumbers to the HFD differed, which in turn could have triggered sex-related differences in the intestinal microbiome. These results suggest that the lipid content in diets can be differentially adjusted for male and female sea cucumbers to improve nutrition and promote reproduction. This data contributes to a better understanding of the reproductive biology and sex differences of sea cucumbers.

Keywords: high-fat diet; intestinal microbes; physiological metabolic responses; sea cucumber; sex differences.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Species composition analysis of intestinal microbiota in sea cucumbers [(i): phyla; (ii): genus]. (A) The top ten most-abundant microbiota in each experimental group; (B) Microbiota that were significantly different between CF and HF. (C) Microbiota that were significantly different between CM and HM. (D) Microbiota that were significantly different between HM and HF.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Alpha diversity and function analysis of intestinal microbiota in sea cucumbers. (A) Alpha diversity by Shannon index. (B) The top ten most enriched microbiota pathways. (C) Functional correlation analysis of microbiota that were significantly different between experimental groups [(i): phyla; (ii): genus].
Figure 3
Figure 3
Differential intestinal and gonadal metabolites and enrichment pathways in sea cucumbers. (A) Comparison of differential metabolites between experimental groups. (B) The top-20 most-enriched differential metabolite pathways between the experimental groups.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Intestinal and gonadal metabolites related to lipid metabolism pathways in sea cucumbers and their correlation with fatty acids in experimental diets. (A) Heatmap of metabolites related to lipid metabolism pathways. (B) Lipid metabolites significantly associated with fatty acids in experimental diets [(i): intestines; (ii): gonads].
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