Liver transcriptome analysis in gilthead sea bream upon exposure to low temperature

Alba N Mininni, Massimo Milan, Serena Ferraresso, Tommaso Petochi, Patrizia Di Marco, Giovanna Marino, Silvia Livi, Chiara Romualdi, Luca Bargelloni, Tomaso Patarnello

Water temperature greatly influences the physiology and behaviour of teleost fish as other aquatic organisms. While fish are able to cope with seasonal temperature variations, thermal excursions outside their normal thermal range might exceed their ability to respond leading to severe diseases and death.Profound differences exist in thermal tolerance across fish species living in the same geographical areas, promoting for investigating the molecular mechanisms involved in susceptibility and resistance to low and high temperatures toward a better understanding of adaptation to environmental challenges. The gilthead sea bream, Sparus aurata, is particularly sensitive to cold and the prolonged exposure to low temperatures may lead to the "winter disease", a metabolic disorder that significantly affects the aquaculture productions along the Northern Mediterranean coasts during winter-spring season. While sea bream susceptibility to low temperatures has been extensively investigated, the cascade of molecular events under such stressful condition is not fully elucidated.