Lipid metabolism and microbial regulation analyses provide insights into the energy-saving strategies of hibernating snakes

作者：Yuting Wei, Huirong Mao, Qiuhong Liu, Wenjie Fang, Tianxiang Zhang, Yongtao Xu, Weiwei Zhang, Biao Chen, Yunlin Zheng, Xiaolong Hu · 发表于：Communications Biology · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1038/s42003-025-07493-2 · 被引用次数：6 · 研究领域：Bat Biology and Ecology Studies、Amphibian and Reptile Biology、Adipose Tissue and Metabolism

Hibernation is a necessary means for animals to maintain survival while coping with low temperatures and food shortages. While most studies have largely focused on mammalian hibernation, its reptilian equivalent has been less studied. In order to provide insights into the energy metabolism and potential microbial regulatory mechanisms in hibernating snakes, the serum, liver, gut content samples were measured by multi-omic methods. Here we show the active snakes have more vigorous lipid metabolism, whereas snakes in hibernation groups have higher sphingolipid metabolism. Furthermore, the results indicate that the potential energy supply pathway was gluconeogenesis. Microbial analysis reveals that Proteobacteria and Firmicutes showed dynamic changes with the transformation among active, pre-hibernation and hibernation periods. The correlation analysis reveals the potential role of Romboutsia, Providencia and Vagococcus in regulating above metabolism by producing certain metabolites. The results advance the understanding of the complex energy-saving strategy in hibernating poikilotherms. Multi-omics approach provides insights into unique energy-saving strategies and the potential mechanisms of gut microbiota regulating sphingolipid and bile acid metabolism in the energy storage and supply in hibernating snakes.