Metabolomics provide novel insights into the settlement and metamorphosis of the scyphozoan jellyfish Aurelia coerulea
摘要
Jellyfish outbreaks are severely exacerbated by coastal eutrophication, overfishing, and aquaculture. Jellyfish proliferation has been shown closely connected with larval populations during the early stages of their life cycle. However, the factors affecting larval populations have not been fully explored. The changes in metabolites during the transition from planula larvae to polyps were analyzed using ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with a mass spectrometer. In jellyfish planula larvae and polyps, lipids and lipid-like molecules are the most abundant metabolites, followed by organic acids and their derivatives, organic heterocyclic compounds, and organic oxygen compounds. In comparison with planula larvae, 13 metabolites were significantly increased while 212 were significantly decreased. Most of these metabolites are involved in lipid metabolism, amino acids metabolism, and nucleotide metabolism. Furthermore, during the jellyfish planula larvae metamorphosis and settlement, five differentially expressed metabolites were identified as candidate metabolites that facilitate larvae attachment and metamorphosis, including glycerol lactate pyruvate, N-stearoyl asparagine, 4-methyl-umbelliferyl-N-acetyl-chitobiose, levetiracetam, and 4-amino-1-[(2R,5R)-5-(hydroxymethyl)-4-sulfanyloxolan-2-yl] pyrimidin-2-one. This study identified the metabolites and helped understand the metabolic mechanisms underlying the attachment and metamorphosis of jellyfish larvae, which expands our knowledge of jellyfish blooming at the early life stage.