Aquaculture Africa 2023

November 13 - 16, 2023

Lusaka, Zambia

ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY AND NON-CODING RNAs IN EXTRACELLULAR VESICLES FROM SENEGALESE SOLE BLOOD

Golam Rbbani* ,  Alexandros Tsakogiannis, Elvira Fatsini Fernández, Catarina Oliveira, José Beirão D os Santos ,  Elsa Cabrita, Benjamin Costas, Jorge M.O. Fernandes

Faculty of Biosciences and Aquaculture, Nord University, 8049 Bodø, Norway

 Email: golam.rbbani@nord.no

 



Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are nanometer-scale lipid bilayer-enveloped spherical vesicles  that carry a wide  range  of bioactive molecules, like proteins, lipids, enzymes, and nucleic acids (RNA and DNA). They are actively released by various cells and can be found in  biofluids  like urine, blood, saliva, cerebral spinal fluid, and seminal plasma.  EVs play a vital role in cell-to-cell communication and various biological processes .  Notably, miRNAs  contained  in  EVs  are believed to impact the reproductive process in various species, including fish. In the case of Senegalese sole (Solea senegalensis) , a promising aquaculture species, its reproduction cycle is not fully controlled and relies on wild broodstock. Under cultured conditions, the male progeny of wild broodstock often exhibit reproductive behavioural dysfunctions, producing limited and poor-quality sperm or sometimes failing to engage in courtship for egg fertilization .

 To overcome these challenges, we have conducted a feeding trial utilizing control diets and diets supplemented with algae to improve their reproductive performance and sperm quality . After 6 months , we collected blood plasma and isolated EVs based on their size (~30-1000 nm), employing size-exclusion chromatography with qEV 70 nm Gen2 single columns from Izon ( Figure 1) . Subsequently, t hese EVs were  characterized by measuring their concentration and size using t unable r esistive p ulse s ensing in the Exoid (Izon). Finally , we extracted total RNA from the samples and prepared small RNA libraries to characterize and identify specific miRNAs associated with antioxidant activity that may serve as  molecular markers for assessing sperm quality in Senegalese sole.

The findings of this study are expected to have significant implications for enhancing the reproductive success of Senegalese sole in  the  cultured industry.

Acknowledgement: This work was funded by the BREEDFLAT project (EEA and Norway Grants, ref. PT-INNOVATION-0080).