Conference Paper
How cavefish adapt to food limited environment?
Xiong, S., Krishnan, J., Peuss, R. and Rohner, N.
Record Number:
4298
Year:
2019
Journal:
AIM 2019
Pages:
50
Abstract:
Astyanax mexicanus includes two major populations: cave-dwelling cavefish and river dwelling
surface fish. Unlike river fish, cavefish are in a food limited environment with perpetual darkness.
Apart from their obvious morphological phenotypes, cavefish and surface fish show strikingly
different metabolisms. Previous studies have shown some cavefish populations have
hyperphagia (elevated appetite) to increase food consumption, fat deposition, and starvation
resistance. However, not all cavefish populations display hyperphagia, yet they all display high
body fat. We aim to reveal alternative mechanisms for how cavefish acquire high body fat to adapt
to food scarcity. Here, we show that three independent derived cavefish populations depicted
hypertrophy of visceral adipocytes, which can lead to increased amounts of visceral adipose
tissues. Furthermore, Pachón cavefish develop visceral adipocytes 2 days earlier than surface
fish, which is likely a developmental mechanism for high body fat accumulation. Additionally,
adipocyte development is much faster in Pachón cavefish compared to surface fish. We propose
that higher lipid digestion and absorption efficiency may explain why Pachón cavefish have earlier
and faster adipogenesis than surface fish. Moreover, Pachón cavefish also show higher de novo
lipogenesis in the liver compared to surface fish. Together, we suggest the differences in early
adipogenesis and high de novo adipogenesis in the Pachón population as additional strategies of
increased fat store in cavefish to adapt to nutrition limited environment.
Times Cited:
1
Conference Name:
Astyanax Interrnational Meeting
Relevent Species: