Poultry, Fisheries & Wildlife Sciences
Open Access

Abstract

Identification of Stress Related Molecular Biomarkers in Zebrafish Employing an In-Silico Approach to Access Toxicity based Risks in Aquaculture

Md Mursalin Khan

Toxicity induced stress on fishes has recently become a major concern in aquaculture. Monitoring risk factors in a routine manner can save aqua-culturists from a substantial amount of losses. Meta-analysis gives a successful way for high-throughput screening of stress inductive chemicals in fish habitats by firmly exploiting molecular biomarkers. Previously reported meta-analysis revealed Top-21 proteins that are frequently related to stress-induced proteome profiles. We performed a further computational analysis on specific functional categorization, proteinprotein interaction (PPI) network and co-expression profiles for these Top-21 proteins in search of more consistent and robust molecular biomarkers. The analysis identified functional class specific molecular biomarkers: for heat shock proteins the proposed biomarkers are hsp90b1, hsp90ab1, hspa5, hspa8,hspa9, and ptges3a; for cytoskeletal proteins the proposed biomarkers are actb1, myhz2 and zgc:55461, rac1, tuba1/2, tuba1, and zgc:136799; for keratin proteins the proposed biomarkers are Krt 4, Krt5, krt23, krt17, sc:d0144, cldnb, icn2, and pkp3; for oxidative damage defense proteins the proposed biomarkers are txn, prdx5, adh2a and prdx2. These predicted molecular biomarkers can be considered potential candidates for identifying the stressors present in fish habitats since the biomarkers are integral to stress modulation. In addition, as a consequence of the study, the reported proteins can also be applied as stress regulators in fish. Our study will help researchers to find suitable proteins for stress biomarkers and regulators. Further wet lab validation of those proposed proteins as biomarkers and regulators will be useful to lead to practical implementation of our proposal.