Examination of the role of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) in preventing hemocyte apoptosis in whiteleg shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei)

Air exposure can induce excessive hypoxia and apoptosis in aquatic organisms. Moreover, it can even lead to severe mortality. In this study, RNA interference was employed to investigate the role of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) in alleviating hemocyte apoptosis in whiteleg shrimps (Litopenaeus vannamei) suffering air exposure at 15 °C for 6 h during simulated waterless transportation. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, hemocyte subpopulation percentage, and expression levels of heat shock protein 70 (HSP70), caspase-3, and cytochrome c were also determined. HIF-1α knockdown showed a significant aggravation of hemocyte apoptosis with the increase of ROS production, hyalinocyte percentage, semi granulocyte percentage, and the expression levels of caspase-3 and cytochrome c under air exposure (p