{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T14:19:05Z","timestamp":1785421145288,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":40,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"15","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,23]],"date-time":"2026-07-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1784764800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Tianshan Talent Training Project of Xinjiang","award":["2023TSYCCX0128"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2023TSYCCX0128"]}]},{"award":["2023TSYCCX0128"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2023TSYCCX0128"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/034z67559","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["32560894"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["32560894"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["31360635"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["31360635"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"award":["32560894"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["32560894"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/01h0zpd94","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["31360635"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["31360635"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/01h0zpd94","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Key R & D plan of Xinjiang","award":["2024B02014"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2024B02014"]}]},{"award":["2024B02014"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2024B02014"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/034z67559","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Key R & D plan of Ministry of Science and Technology","award":["2023YFD2401000"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2023YFD2401000"]}]},{"award":["2023YFD2401000"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2023YFD2401000"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/01skt4w74","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Animals"],"abstract":"<jats:p>To understand the adaptive evolution of endangered plateau freshwater fishes to environmental stress and to better explore the underlying mechanisms in Aspiorhynchus laticeps\u2014a critically endangered fish endemic to the Tarim Basin, Xinjiang, China\u2014a combination of ecological experiments and transcriptome sequencing (RNA-seq) technology was used to study the differences in gene expression patterns among individuals under different salinities and flow conditions. This experiment included four treatment groups (CON, H-SA-S, L-SA, L-SA-S). A. laticeps specimens with an average weight of 2.92 \u00b1 0.62 g and a body length of 58.22 \u00b1 5.10 mm were selected, with three biological replicates for a 96 h combined stress treatment. Moreover, the relationships between these differences and the aquatic environment were analyzed. A total of 1847 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), including 935 upregulated genes and 912 downregulated genes, were identified under different aquatic environment stress modes. GO and KEGG enrichment analyses revealed that TNF signal transduction, the NF-\u03baB pathway, and metabolic regulation were significantly enriched among the DEGs (p &lt; 0.05). High salinity\u2013alkali stress significantly activates the TNF\/NF-\u03baB pathway, regulates MST1, LOC107702867, LOC113110979 and other genes to enhance the body\u2019s resistance; water flow changes mainly regulate energy metabolism through genes such as NEHOM01_1600 and gptl. These findings provide an important scientific basis for the ecological adaptability, protection, and proliferation of endemic and endangered fish in China, as well as for germplasm innovation to address ecological deterioration in plateau fishes in alpine and arid areas. This study provides a molecular-level theoretical foundation for artificial habitat regulation and the conservation of endangered Aspiorhynchus laticeps populations in the Tarim River.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ani16152281","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,23]],"date-time":"2026-07-23T06:11:42Z","timestamp":1784787102000},"page":"2281","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Transcriptomic Responses of the Endangered Endemic Fish Aspiorhynchus laticeps to Salinity\u2013Alkalinity and Water Flow Stress"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Huanhuan","family":"Wang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Life Science and Technology, State Key Laboratory Incubation Base for Conservation and Utilization of Bio-Resource in Tarim Basin, Tarim Research Center of Rare Fishes, Tarim University, Alar 843300, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0004-7562-6590","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Liting","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Life Science and Technology, State Key Laboratory Incubation Base for Conservation and Utilization of Bio-Resource in Tarim Basin, Tarim Research Center of Rare Fishes, Tarim University, Alar 843300, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Changcai","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Life Science and Technology, State Key Laboratory Incubation Base for Conservation and Utilization of Bio-Resource in Tarim Basin, Tarim Research Center of Rare Fishes, Tarim University, Alar 843300, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wenxia","family":"Cai","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Life Science and Technology, State Key Laboratory Incubation Base for Conservation and Utilization of Bio-Resource in Tarim Basin, Tarim Research Center of Rare Fishes, Tarim University, Alar 843300, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yong","family":"Song","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Life Science and Technology, State Key Laboratory Incubation Base for Conservation and Utilization of Bio-Resource in Tarim Basin, Tarim Research Center of Rare Fishes, Tarim University, Alar 843300, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xuyuan","family":"Lin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps Aquatic Technology Promotion Station, Urumqi 830000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Peng","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Aquatic Development Center (Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Aquatic Scientific Research Institute), Urumqi 830000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhen","family":"Sun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"East China Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Shanghai 200090, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sadia","family":"Bibi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Life Science and Technology, State Key Laboratory Incubation Base for Conservation and Utilization of Bio-Resource in Tarim Basin, Tarim Research Center of Rare Fishes, Tarim University, Alar 843300, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiao","family":"Liang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Coastal Biological Germplasm Resources Conservation and Utilization, State Key Laboratory for Quality and Safety of Agro-Products, Institute of Hydrobiology, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou 310021, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shengao","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Life Science and Technology, State Key Laboratory Incubation Base for Conservation and Utilization of Bio-Resource in Tarim Basin, Tarim Research Center of Rare Fishes, Tarim University, Alar 843300, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,23]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"333","DOI":"10.1007\/s10201-025-00779-8","article-title":"Saline lakes of Transbaikalia (Russia): Limnology and diversity of plankton communities","volume":"26","author":"Afonina","year":"2025","journal-title":"Limnology"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Amankwah, J.F., Jin, W., Ma, X., Xu, P., Wen, H., Amuneke, K.E., Munganga, B.P., Li, K., Liu, J., and Li, H. 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