The present study was aimed at identifying causative hub genes within modules formed by co-expression and protein–protein interaction (PPI) networks, followed by Bayesian network (BN) construction in the liver transcriptome of starved zebrafish. To this end, the GSE11107 and GSE112272 datasets from the GEO databases were downloaded and meta-analyzed using the MetaDE package, an add-on R package. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified based upon expression intensity N(µ = 0.2, σ² = 0.4). Reconstruction of BNs was performed by the bnlearn R package on genes within modules using STRINGdb and CEMiTool. ndufs5 (shared among PPI, BN and COEX), rps26, rpl10, sdhc (shared between PPI and BN), ndufa6, ndufa10, ndufb8 (shared between PPI and COEX), skp1, atp5h, ndufb10, rpl5b, zgc:193613, zgc:123327, zgc:123178, wu:fc58f10, zgc:111986, wu:fc37b12, taldo1, wu:fb62f08, zgc:64133 and acp5a (shared between COEX and BN) were identified as causative hub genes affecting gene expression in the liver of starving zebrafish. Future work will shed light on using integrative analyses of miRNA and DNA microarrays simultaneously, and performing in silico and experimental validation of these hub-causative (CST) genes affecting starvation in zebrafish.

The karyotype of pike from Anzali lagoon in the south Caspian Sea basin have been investigated by examining metaphase chromosomes spreads obtained from gill epithelial and kidney cells. The chromosomes spreads were stained with 7% Giemsa solution for 15 min and examined under a light microscope. Appropriate metaphase plates were photographed in order to prepare karyotype. All specimens had a diploid number of 50 chromosomes, with a karyotype constituted by 12 metacentric‏, 24 submetacentric, 14 subtelocentric and fundamental number (NF) of 86. The largest chromosome in this species was a pair of metacentric chromosomes. Based on type of chromosomes, the karyotype of the species differed from the findings of previous studies, which could be attributed to the existence of different populations for this species. Despite the conserved diploid number, the data on the karyotype structure help characterize the cytogenetic profile of this species.