Based on clinical observations, women with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) are prone to developing several other diseases, such as metabolic and cardiovascular diseases. However, the molecular association between PCOS and these diseases remains poorly understood. Recent studies showed that the information from protein–protein interaction (PPI) network analysis are useful in understanding the disease association in detail. This study utilized this approach to deepen the knowledge on the association between PCOS and other diseases. A PPI network for PCOS was constructed using PCOS-related proteins (PCOSrp) obtained from PCOSBase. MCODE was used to identify highly connected regions in the PCOS network, known as subnetworks. These subnetworks represent protein families, where their molecular information is used to explain the association between PCOS and other diseases. Fisher’s exact test and comorbidity data were used to identify PCOS–disease subnetworks. Pathway enrichment analysis was performed on the PCOS–disease subnetworks to identify significant pathways that are highly involved in the PCOS–disease associations. Migraine, schizophrenia, depressive disorder, obesity, and hypertension, along with twelve other diseases, were identified to be highly associated with PCOS. The identification of significant pathways, such as ribosome biogenesis, antigen processing and presentation, and mitophagy, suggest their involvement in the association between PCOS and migraine, schizophrenia, and hypertension.

Ecdysone receptor (EcR) is the primary regulator of the ecdysteroid signalling pathway, a critical pathway that directly links to moulting. In addition, EcR also regulates growth, development, reproduction and regeneration in crustaceans. However, there remains a huge gap of knowledge between the detailed structure and functional role(s) of crustacean EcR compared to that of insects. Motif and phylogenetic analyses of publicly available crustacean EcR proteins revealed the evolutionary relationship of EcR in this subphylum and highlighted its conserved characteristics among crustaceans. The role of EcR in the regulation of essential physiological processes in crustaceans including moulting, chitin synthesis, general growth and development, gonadal and maturation, and limb regeneration was discussed based on the available literature. This essential moult-related nuclear receptor could serve as a useful molecular indicator of moulting and gonadal maturation, as a potential target for pesticide production against parasitic crustacean species in the aquaculture industry, as well as valuable bioindicators of environmental stressors.

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Aquatic ecosystems that form major biodiversity hotspots are critically threatened due to environmental and anthropogenic stressors. We believe that, in this genomic era, computational methods can be applied to promote aquatic biodiversity conservation by addressing questions related to the evolutionary history of aquatic organisms at the molecular level. However, huge amounts of genomics data generated can only be discerned through the use of bioinformatics. Here, we examine the applications of next-generation sequencing technologies and bioinformatics tools to study the molecular evolution of aquatic animals and discuss the current challenges and future perspectives of using bioinformatics toward aquatic animal conservation efforts.

Protein-protein interactions (PPIs) play integral roles in a wide range of biological processes that regulate the overall growth, development, physiology and disease in living organisms. With the advancement of high-throughput sequencing technologies, increasing numbers of PPI networks are being predicted and annotated, and these contribute greatly towards the understanding of pathogenesis and the discovery of novel drug targets for the treatment of diseases. The use of this tool is gaining popularity in the identification, understanding and treatment of diseases in humans and plants. Due to the importance of aquaculture in tackling the global food crisis by producing cheap and high-quality protein source, the maintenance of the overall health status of aquaculture species is essential. With the increasing omics data on aquaculture species, the PPI network is an emerging tool for fish health maintenance. In this review, we first introduce the concept of PPI network, how they are discovered and their general application. Then, the current status of aquaculture and disease in aquaculture are discussed. The different applications of PPI network in aquaculture fish disease management such as biomarker identification, mechanism prediction, understanding of host-pathogen interaction, understanding of pathogen co-infection interaction, and potential development of vaccines and treatments are subsequently highlighted. It is hoped that this emerging tool-PPI networkwould deepen our understanding of the pathogenesis of various diseases and hasten the prevention and treatment processes in aquaculture species.