Responses of the mud snail Cipangopaludina cathayensis to thermal stress: Insights from metabolism, oxidative stress damage, and hepatopancreas transcriptional modulation

Global warming linked to climate change poses a significant risk to aquatic animals. Invertebrates, such as Cipangopaludina cathayensis are especially susceptible to elevated temperature. Understanding how C. cathayensis responds to high-temperature stress is crucial for predicting the putative effects of climate change on its cultivation. In this study, we exposed C. cathayensis to various temperature conditions (26 °C, 28 °C, 30 °C, and 32 °C) for 3 h, revealing that both oxygen consumption and ammonia excretion rates increased gradually with increasing temperature, reaching maximum values of 77.711 ± 2.364 μg·(g·h)⁻¹ and 4.701 ± 0.036 μg·(g·h)⁻¹ at 30 °C and 28 °C, respectively. However, values of these parameters decreased when the culture temperature increased to 32 °C. High-temperature stress also resulted in a reduced O:N ratio and decreased energy metabolism rate. To investigate how high temperature impacts antioxidant activities, immune function, and transcriptional regulation in the hepatopancreas, C. cathayensis were exposed to temperatures of 26 °C or 32 °C for 3 and 7 days, respectively. Our results indicated that high temperature disrupted the antioxidant defense system and led to immunosuppression in the hepatopancreas. Comparative transcriptome analysis identified 6638 genes with significantly altered expression between these two temperature groups. Functional enrichment analysis of differentially expressed genes demonstrated that high temperature affected protein homeostasis, energy metabolism, and immune function of C. cathayensis. Together, these findings offer valuable information for evaluating the impacts of global warming on the culture of mud snail.