2026-10-13T23:35:01Z https://www.scidb.cn/oai

10.57760/sciencedb.28860 2026-03-05T10:27:34Z

2026-03-05 Analysis of hypoxia-inducible factors in the deep-sea fish reveals genetic adaptation to hypoxic environments doi:10.57760/sciencedb.28860 en Oxygen levels in the ocean have decreased worldwide as a result of climate change and nutrient contamination, which has had a significant impact on marine ecosystems. Though deep-sea fish that reside in oxygen minimum zones (OMZs) demonstrate remarkable adaptations to hypoxia, the molecular mechanisms that underlie their resilience are still inadequately understood. The hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs), regulated by the hypoxia signaling pathway, play a crucial role in maintaining cellular and systemic oxygen homeostasis in response to changes in oxygen supply. In this study, we investigate the HIFs pathway in three deep-sea fish species: Pseudoliparis swirei, Ilyophis sp., and Liparis tanakai. We found that Ilyophis sp. HIF-1α shows stronger transcriptional activity and upregulates hypoxia-response genes more efficiently than other species. Mutational analysis revealed that the deletion mutation of the nuclear export signal (NES) in Ilyophis sp. HIF-1α may enhance its stability, while Plk3 may function as a negative regulator of deep-sea fish HIF-1α under hypoxic conditions. This study reveals divergent evolutionary strategies in hypoxia adaptation among deep-sea fishes, highlighting how structural and regulatory mechanisms enable survival in oxygen-deprived environments, and provides novel insights into the genetic mechanisms enabling survival in OMZs, advancing our understanding of marine hypoxia resilience and its implications for ecosystem dynamics under global deoxygenation. HIF-α; PHD2; Plk3; The deep sea; Fish; OMZs; Hypoxic adaptation Ai Geng RESTRICTED dataset http://www.doi.org/10.24272/j.issn.2095-8137.2025.510 Science Data Bank