A comparative analysis of the response of the hepatic transcriptome to dietary docosahexaenoic acid in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) post-smolts.
BACKGROUND
The present study aimed to explore the impact of dietary docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) on aspects of the metabolism of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). The effects of diets containing increasing levels of DHA (1 g kg(-1), 3 g kg(-1), 6 g kg(-1), 10 g kg(-1) and 13 g kg(-1)) on the liver transcriptome of post-smolt salmon was examined to elucidate patterns of gene expression and responses of specific metabolic pathways. Total RNA was isolated from the liver of individual fish and analyzed using a custom gene expression 44K feature Atlantic salmon oligo-microarray.


RESULTS
The expression of up to 911 unique annotated genes was significantly affected by dietary DHA inclusion relative to a low DHA reference diet. Analysis of a total of 797 unique genes were found with a significant linear correlation between expression level and dietary DHA. Gene-Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) identified a range of pathways that were significantly affected by dietary DHA content.


CONCLUSIONS
Pathways that showed a significant response to dietary DHA level included those for long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid biosynthesis, fatty acid elongation, steroid biosynthesis, glycan biosynthesis, protein export and protein processing in the endoplasmic reticulum. These findings suggest that in addition to clear roles in influencing lipid metabolic pathways, DHA might also have key functional roles in other pathways distinct from lipid metabolism.
CSIRO Aquaculture, GPO Box 2583, Brisbane, QLD, 4001, Australia. brett.glencross@gmail.com.
Brett D
BD
Glencross
Institute of Aquaculture, School of Natural Sciences, Stirling University, Stirling, FK9 4LA, Scotland, UK. christian.desantis@stir.ac.uk.
Christian
C
De Santis
Institute of Aquaculture, School of Natural Sciences, Stirling University, Stirling, FK9 4LA, Scotland, UK. beatrix.berdal@stir.ac.uk.
Beatrix
B
Bicskei
Institute of Aquaculture, School of Natural Sciences, Stirling University, Stirling, FK9 4LA, Scotland, UK. j.b.taggart@stir.ac.uk.
John B
JB
Taggart
Institute of Aquaculture, School of Natural Sciences, Stirling University, Stirling, FK9 4LA, Scotland, UK. j.e.bron@stir.ac.uk.
James E
JE
Bron
Institute of Aquaculture, School of Natural Sciences, Stirling University, Stirling, FK9 4LA, Scotland, UK. m.b.betancor@stir.ac.uk.
Monica B
MB
Betancor
Institute of Aquaculture, School of Natural Sciences, Stirling University, Stirling, FK9 4LA, Scotland, UK. d.r.tocher@stir.ac.uk.
Douglas R
DR
Tocher
D000821:Animal Feed; D000818:Animals; D053898:Biosynthetic Pathways / Q000235:genetics; D019295:Computational Biology; D004281:Docosahexaenoic Acids / Q000378:metabolism*; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000378:metabolism; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D050356:Lipid Metabolism / Q000235:genetics; D008099:Liver / Q000378:metabolism*; D058977:Molecular Sequence Annotation; D047492:Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptors / Q000378:metabolism; D011134:Polysaccharides / Q000096:biosynthesis; D020317:Salmo salar / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013256:Steroids / Q000096:biosynthesis; D059467:Transcriptome
D005227:Fatty Acids; D047492:Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptors; D011134:Polysaccharides; D013256:Steroids; D004281:Docosahexaenoic Acids