Gene expression of Lysozyme C and Lysozyme G in diploid and triploid Astyanax lacustris experimentally infected with Aeromonas jandaei

Abstract

Triploid fish are becoming increasingly popular in commercial aquaculture due to their sterility, which results in improved meat quality and better growth rates as a result of the lack of sexual maturation. However, triploid fish are generally perceived as being more susceptible to diseases and less able to cope with suboptimal environmental conditions. The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of triploidy on the expression of C-type and G-type lysozymes (LysC and LysG) in lambaris (Astyanax lacustris) that were challenged with a pathogenic strain of Aeromonas jandaei. The animals were induced to triploidy as described in the literature. We infected 10 diploid and 10 triploid fish with 104 CFU of A. jandaei in 0.1 mL of PBS by intraperitoneal injection, a dose capable of triggering an immune response in the animals. Fish from the control groups were inoculated with 0.1 mL of sterile PBS. Molecular cloning of Lysozyme C and Lysozyme G was performed to characterize these genes, and the analysis of gene expression for LysC and LysG of A. lacustris diploids and triploids was conducted using qPCR. The collected data revealed that there were no significant differences in basal expression between diploid and triploid uninfected fish. However, the challenged fish of both ploidies exhibited an increase in expression compared to the control group. The results of study indicate that infected diploid fish exhibit significantly higher lysozyme expression in the spleen compared to infected triploid fish. While basal lysozyme expression levels between diploid and triploid fish remain unaffected, our findings suggest that triploidy may lower lysozyme expression in response to infection, with diploid fish exhibiting higher levels of expression.

Keywords

• Lambaris
• Lysozymes
• Effector molecules
• Gene expression
• Bacterial challenge