Lipidome and Proteome Insights into Mariana Trench Snailfish Adaptation to the Hadal Zone
Published 20 November, 2024
The Mariana Trench snailfish (Pseudoliparis swirei) is considered the deepest-living fish species, inhabiting depths exceeding 8,000 meters. This extreme environment presents survival challenges, including high hydrostatic pressure, low temperatures and scarce food resources.
Against this backdrop, members of Professor Hunping He's team from the Institute of Deep-Sea Science and Engineering and the Institute of Hydrobiology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences conducted an in-depth analysis of the lipidomic and proteomic profiles of the snailfish’s enlarged liver tissue, uncovering its unique survival strategies.
“We found that the hadal snailfish exhibits unique adaptations to extreme deep-sea conditions, including specialized lipid and protein metabolism,” shares Han Xu, lead author of the study published in the KeAi journal Water Biology and Security. “These metabolic adjustments allow it to efficiently store energy, optimize energy utilization and maintain membrane fluidity by adjusting lipid types and ratios. Additionally, it possesses a robust mechanism to prevent lipid peroxidation.”
The team found that the hadal snailfish increases lipid reserves in its liver, including cholesterol esters and triacylglycerols, to withstand prolonged periods of food scarcity.
“It also elevates levels of coenzyme Q (CoQ) and ATPase, which enhance energy production efficiency,” says Xu. “Moreover, the proportion of unsaturated fatty acids in its liver is significantly increased, while cholesterol and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) levels are reduced to maintain membrane fluidity under high-pressure conditions.”
Notable antioxidant adaptations, such as increasing the ratio of monounsaturated fatty acids and enhancing levels of antioxidant proteins like transferrin and heat shock proteins (HSPs), which help reduce the risk of lipid peroxidation, were also noted.
Contact author: Han Xu, Institute of Deep-Sea Science and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, xuhan@idsse.ac.cn
Funder: The project was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (42330405); The Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB42030000); The National Key Research and Development Program of China (2022YFC2805400, 2016YFC0304905); The National Natural Science Foundation of China (41876179).
Conflict of interest: The authors declare no competing interests.
See the article: Han Xu, Chengchi Fang, Cheng Wang, Xiaoni Gan, Shunping He. Lipidome and proteome analyses provide insights into Mariana Trench Snailfish (Pseudoliparis swirei) adaptation to the hadal zone.Water Biology and Security , 2024, 100295. DOI 10.1016/j.watbs.2024.100295
