In ovaries, the higher abundance of uric acid after the infection was correlated with the downregulation of two E. sea bass metabolic genes (Fig. 7A, B): Purine nucleoside phosphorylase 5a (pnp5a, PNP human ortholog, log2FC: − 1.96) and lactate dehydrogenase b (ldhb, LDHB human ortholog, log2FC: − 1.35). Here, PNP is linked to infection.