Fatty liver disease is common in cultured yellow catfish as a result of high fat contents in feeds. However, little is known about the mechanism by which the excessive deposition of liver fat causes fatty liver disease. Hybrid yellow catfish (Pelteobagrus fulvidraco♀ × P. vachelli♂) were fed a high-fat diet (HFD) or a normal-fat diet (NFD) for 60 days. Compared with the NFD group, the HFD group showed lower growth performance, higher hepatosomatic and viscerosomatic indexes, increased hepatic triglyceride and cholesterol contents, and more and larger lipid droplets in liver tissue. Whole transcriptome mRNA libraries and microRNA libraries from fish in the NFD and HFD groups were constructed by high-throughput sequencing. Twelve miRNAs were differentially expressed (DE) between the HFD and NFD groups. Seven negatively correlated DE miRNA–DE mRNA pairs were selected, and the expression patterns of both were confirmed using qRT-PCR. Hybrid yellow catfish showed mediated oxidative degradation of liver glucose and fatty acid peroxidation, regulation of antioxidant enzyme activity, and various immune and inflammatory responses to fat deposition and stress. These findings have important biological significance for protecting the liver against stress, as well as economic significance for establishing healthy aquaculture conditions.

由于饲料中脂肪含量高，脂肪肝病在养殖的黄鲶鱼中很常见。然而，关于肝脏脂肪过度沉积导致脂肪肝疾病的机制知之甚少。杂交黄鲶鱼 ( Pelteobagrus fulvidraco ♀ ×  P. vachelli♂) 喂食高脂肪饮食 (HFD) 或正常脂肪饮食 (NFD) 60 天。与NFD组相比，HFD组生长性能降低，肝体和内脏指标升高，肝脏甘油三酯和胆固醇含量升高，肝组织内脂滴增多，体积变大。通过高通量测序构建了来自 NFD 和 HFD 组鱼类的全转录组 mRNA 文库和 microRNA 文库。HFD 组和 NFD 组之间有 12 个 miRNA 差异表达 (DE)。选择了七个负相关的 DE miRNA-DE mRNA 对，并使用 qRT-PCR 确认了两者的表达模式。杂交黄鲶鱼表现出介导的肝葡萄糖氧化降解和脂肪酸过氧化，抗氧化酶活性的调节，以及对脂肪沉积和压力的各种免疫和炎症反应。这些发现对于保护肝脏免受压力具有重要的生物学意义，对于建立健康的水产养殖条件也具有经济意义。