Inflammation and apoptosis pathways mediated the stress response of Litopenaeus vannamei to acute cold and air exposure during waterless live transportation: Based on ultrastructure and transcriptome

Tandem Mass Tag Proteomics Provides Insights into the Underlying Mechanism of Flesh Quality Degradation of Litopenaeus vannamei during Refrigerated Waterless Transport at 12 °C

Refrigerated waterless transport at 12 °C of live shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) causes flesh quality deterioration, and the underlying mechanism remains unknown. Herein, proteomics and bioinformatics analyses were used to elucidate the molecular mechanism of flesh quality changes. The result showed that 33 and 44 of the differentially abundant proteins (DAPs) were, respectively, identified in the acute cold (AC) group and the combined stress of acute cold and waterless duration (AC+WD) group, which were mostly involved in the metabolism processes and cellular structure of animal tissues, and notably enriched in biological pathways such as lysosome, glycolysis/gluconeogenesis, and focal adhesion. Furthermore, the changes in color and texture properties were closely associated with tubulin, gelsolin, laminin, trypsin-1, dipeptidyl peptidase, triosephosphate isomerase, and aldehyde dehydrogenase. Therefore, these DAPs could be used as potential biomarkers to monitor the deterioration of shrimp flesh quality during refrigerated waterless transportation.

The effect of air exposure and re-water on gill microstructure and molecular regulation of Pacific white shrimp Penaeus vannamei

The Penaeus vannamei is an important shrimp species with enormous commercial and ecological values. In production process, the air exposure resistance is vital for live transportation without water. We tested the air exposure resistant ability of P. vannamei, and carried out gill histological observation and gene expression analysis. The physiology and molecular response to the air exposure stress of P. vannamei was revealed. We found that body weight could affect the air exposure tolerance. Air exposure caused epithelial cell of gill filament shrinking and tissue fluid exudation within half of hour, and triggered oxidative stress response. After retrieved to water, epithelial cell shrinking and tissue fluid exudation recovered gradually, but oxidative and antioxidant response is still going on. Organisms reduced oxidative stress by regulating levels of antioxidants and antioxidant enzymes that remove reactive oxygen species (ROS) and RNA and DNA processing to repair tissue damage, and expression of apoptosis associated-genes altered. Furthermore, the survive shrimps could live steadily more than 5 days, and their gill filament recovered to normal state, proving that the damage of air exposure is reversible. These findings could be considered in the waterless live transportation of P. vannamei.