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. 2025 Jun 19;9(1):106.
doi: 10.1038/s41538-025-00469-w.

Sea dragon metabolome and lipidome unveil bioactive functional food candidates with sepsis therapeutic activities

Huixiang Wu #  1   2 , Miaoyu Li #  1 , Lijun Ge  1 , Weibo Lu  1 , Xuewei Shen  1 , Yu Zhang  1 , Zengyan Wu  3   4 , Jianding Wang  5 , Yonghui Wu  5 , Huijuan Mao  5 , Jianliang Zhang  5 , Qingcheng Wang  5 , Jing Xue  1   4 , Qing Shen  6   7 , Yuexing Tu  8
Affiliations

Sea dragon metabolome and lipidome unveil bioactive functional food candidates with sepsis therapeutic activities

Huixiang Wu et al. NPJ Sci Food. .

Abstract

Sea dragons (Syngnathus) are valuable marine resources with notable interspecific phenotypic similarities and variations in composition and efficacy. This study employed multi-omics technologies to comprehensively analyze and structurally identify the molecular components of six species of Syngnathus, effectively screening interspecific differential markers. Untargeted metabolomics revealed a total of 18 classes and 2264 metabolites, and lipids were found to be the principal differential metabolites. Lipidomics were utilized for in-depth lipid detection, expanding the original 412 lipids detected through metabolomics to 2078 lipids, among which 47 differential metabolites and 138 differential lipids were selected from multi-omics results. The integration of network pharmacology and molecular docking elucidated the multifactorial mechanisms by which Syngnathus exerts anti-sepsis effects, including modulation of inflammatory responses, and regulation of apoptosis, while identifying key targets such as IL6, STAT3, and MAPK14. This study suggests that they may have potential as natural sources for the development of anti-sepsis foods. Further studies on their bioavailability and in vitro and in vivo efficacy are required in the future.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. Metabolomic analysis of six sea dragon species.
a The number of metabolites in two ionization modes; b Metabolite classes and proportions; c Chordal plots of metabolites of the six sea dragon species; d The heatmap of metabolite species of the six sea dragon species. Note: The letters in Fig. 1c correspond to the compounds in the legend, including A: Alkaloids, B: Alkaloids and derivatives, C: Amino acids and Peptides, D: Benzenoids, E: Carbohydrates, F: Fatty acids, G: Lipids and lipid-like molecules, H: Nucleosides, nucleotides, and analogues, I: Organic acids and derivatives, J: Organic nitrogen compounds, K: Organic oxygen compounds, L: Organoheterocyclic compounds, M: Organosulfur compounds, N: Phenylpropanoids and polyketides, O: Polyketides, P: Shikimates and Phenylpropanoids, Q: Terpenoids, R: Others.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2. Analysis of differential metabolites in positive ion mode.
a Number of differential metabolites in positive and negative ion modes; b Top 10 representative differential metabolites with VIP values; c The heatmap of 30 differential metabolites in positive ion mode.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3. Lipidomic analysis of six sea dragon species.
a TIC plots in positive ion mode (up) and negative ion (down); b Classes and proportions of lipids; c Number of lipids in the two ionization modes; d Sankey plots of lipid species of six sea dragon species.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4. Analysis of PUFAs in all differential metabolites and lipids in six species of sea dragon.
a The heatmap of n-3 PUFA; b The heatmap of n-6 PUFAs; c Total peak area of ALA, EPA, DHA, LA, and AA; d ALA, EPA, DHA, LA, and AA as a percentage of total lipid peak area; e Differential PUFAs in QSB as a percentage of each content of ALA, EPA, DHA, LA, and AA.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5. Network pharmacologic analysis of differential components in sea dragons against sepsis.
a Core targets of differential composition in six sea dragon species; b Venn diagramt of core targets of differential components in sea dragon species and disease targets in sepsis, which total 167 intersecting targets; c PPI network of the targets of differential components in six sea dragon species against sepsis, which total 56 core targets. Larger and darker circles represent higher degree values and stronger significance; d GO functional enrichment analysis (top 10) and KEGG signaling pathway enrichment analysis (top 20) of differential components in sea dragon species against sepsis; e “sea dragon-component-target-pathway” interaction network of differential components in sea dragon species against sepsis. f Molecular docking results of differential components in six sea dragon species with core anti-sepsis targets.
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