Metabolomic analysis revealed the differential responses in two pedigrees of clam Ruditapes philippinarum towards Vibrio harveyi challenge.

Manila clam Ruditapes philippinarum is an important marine aquaculture shellfish. This species has several pedigrees including White, Zebra, Liangdao Red and Marine Red distributing in the coastal areas in North China. In this work, we studied the metabolic differences induced by Vibrio harveyi in hepatopancreas from White and Zebra clams using NMR-based metabolomics. Metabolic responses (e.g., amino acids, glucose, glycogen, ATP and succinate) and altered mRNA expression levels of related genes (ATP synthase, heat shock protein 90, defensin and lysozyme) suggested that V. harveyi induced clear disruption in energy metabolism and immune stresses in both White and Zebra clam hepatopancreas. However, V. harveyi caused obvious osmotic stress in Zebra clam hepatopancreas, which was not observed in V. harveyi-challenged White clams samples. In addition, V. harveyi challenge induced more severe disruption in energy metabolism and immune stress in White clams than in Zebra clams. Overall, our results indicated that the biological differences between different pedigrees of R. philippinarum should be considered in immunity studies.