The importance of dietary HUFA for meagre larvae (Argyrosomus regius; Asso, 1801) and its relation with antioxidant vitamins E and C

Despite the interest of meagre (Argyrosomus regius) as a fast‐growing candidate for Mediterranean aquaculture diversification, there is a lack of information on nutrition along larval development. Importance of highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFA) and the antioxidant vitamins E and vitamin C has not been investigated yet in this species. Six diets with two levels of HUFA (0.4% and 3% dw), two of vitamin E (1500 and 3000 mg kg^?1) and two of vitamin C (1800 and 3600 mg kg^?1) were fed to 15 dah meagre larvae. Larval growth in total length and dry body weight was significantly lowest in larvae fed diet 0.4/150/180 and showed few lipid droplets in enterocytes and hepatocytes and lower HUFA contents than the initial larvae. Increase in dietary HUFA up to 3%, significantly improved larval growth and lipid absorption and deposition. Besides, among fish fed 3% HUFA, increase in vitamin E and vitamin C significantly improved body weight, as well as total lipid, 22:6n‐3 and n‐3 fatty acids contents in the larvae. Thus, the results showed that 0.4% dietary HUFA is not enough to cover the essential fatty acid requirements of larval meagre and a high HUFA requirement in weaning diets is foreseen for this species. Besides, the results also pointed out the importance of dietary vitamin E and C to protect these essential fatty acids from oxidation, increase their contents in the larvae and promote growth, suggesting high vitamin E and C requirements in meagre larvae (higher than 1500 and 1800 mg kg^?1 for vitamin E and vitamin C respectively).     

Cyprinid herpesvirus 3 as a potential biological control agent for carp (Cyprinus carpio) in Australia: susceptibility of non‐target species

Carp (Cyprinus carpio L.) is a pest species in Australian waterways, and cyprinid herpesvirus 3 (CyHV‐3) is being considered as a potential biological control (biocontrol) agent. An important consideration for any such agent is its target specificity. In this study, the susceptibility to CyHV‐3 of a range of non‐target species (NTS) was tested. The NTS were as follows: 13 native Australian, and one introduced, fish species; a lamprey species; a crustacean; two native amphibian species (tadpole and mature stages); two native reptilian species; chickens; and laboratory mice. Animals were exposed to 100–1000 times the approximate minimum amount of CyHV‐3 required to cause disease in carp by intraperitoneal and/or bath challenge, and then examined clinically each day over the course of 28 days post‐challenge. There were no clinical signs, mortalities or histological evidence consistent with a viral infection in a wide taxonomic range of NTS. Furthermore, there was no molecular evidence of infection with CyHV‐3, and, in particular, all RT‐PCRs for viral mRNA were negative. As a consequence, the results encourage further investigation of CyHV‐3 as a potential biocontrol agent that is specific for carp.     

Effects of dietary lipid level on growth performance,body composition and digestive enzymes activity of juvenile sea cucumber,Apostichopus japonicus

A feeding trial aimed to determine the effects of dietary lipid level on growth performance, body composition and digestive enzymes activity of juvenile sea cucumber, Apostichopus japonicus. Diets with six crude lipid levels (1.9, 13.8, 29.1, 43.6, 59.6 and 71.6 g kg^?1) were fed to sea cucumbers (initial weights 0.65 ± 0.01 g) at a density of 30 juveniles, once a day. After 60 days, body weight gain (BWG), specific growth rate (SGR), feed intake (FI) and protein efficiency ratio (PER) decreased with increasing dietary lipid levels. The sea cucumbers fed 1.9 g kg^?1 crude lipid showed significantly higher (P < 0.05) BWG than those of the sea cucumbers fed 59.6 and 71.6 g kg^?1 crude lipid. Intestinal protease and lipase activities generally increased with increasing dietary lipid levels. Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) content of body walls generally increased with increasing dietary lipid levels. Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) content of body walls reached the maximum value at a dietary lipid level of 13.8 g kg^?1. N‐3 highly unsaturated fatty acid content followed the same pattern of DHA. According to the growth performance and body composition of sea cucumbers, it can be indicated that the optimum dietary lipid level for juvenile sea cucumbers is between 1.9 and 13.8 g kg^?1.     

Cepharanthine induces autophagy via PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway in ovarian cancer SKOV3 cells

AIM: To investigate the autophagy of human ovarian cancer SKOV3 cells induced by cepharanthine and to explore its mechanism. METHODS: The effect of cepharanthine on the viability of ovarian cancer SKOV3 cells was measured by CCK-8 assay. The SKOV3 cells were treated with cepharanthine, and then the formation of autophagosome was observed with acridine orange staining under fluorescence microscope. The protein levels of LC3, AKT, p-AKT, mTOR, p-mTOR and GAPDH in the SKOV3 cells treated with cepharanthine were determined by Western blot.RESULTS: Cepharanthine significantly inhibited the viability of ovarian cancer SKOV3 cells in a dose-dependent manner (P<0.05). The number of the intracellular acidic autophagosomes with bright red fluorescence was significantly increased after cepharanthine treatment in the SKOV3 cells. The expression of LC3-Ⅱ in SKOV3 cells was significantly enhanced after cepharanthine treatment. Furthermore, treatment with cepharanthine in the SKOV3 cells also resulted in a significant down-regulation of phosphorylated form of AKT and mTOR (P<0.01), while the total protein level was not changed. Combination of cepharanthine and 3-methyladenine resulted in a substantial decrease in the cell viability compared with using cepharanthine alone.CONCLUSION: Cepharanthine significantly inhibits the growth of human ovarian cancer SKOV3 cells and induces the autophagy, which may be correlated with down-regulation of PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway.     

Expression of Anti-Lipopolysaccharide Factor Isoform 3 in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii Showing High Antimicrobial Activity

Antimicrobial peptides are a class of proteins with antibacterial functions. In this study, the anti-lipopolysaccharide factor isoform 3 gene (ALFPm3), encoding an antimicrobial peptide from Penaeus monodon with a super activity was expressed in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, which would develop a microalga strain that can be used for the antimicrobial peptide production. To construct the expression cluster, namely pH2A-Pm3, the codon optimized ALFPm3 gene was fused with the ble reporter by 2A peptide and inserted into pH124 vector. The glass-bead method was performed to transform pH2A-Pm3 into C. reinhardtii CC-849. In addition to 8 μg/mL zeocin resistance selection, the C. reinhardtii transformants were further confirmed by genomic PCR and RT-PCR. Western blot analysis showed that the C. reinhardtii-derived ALFPm3 (cALFPm3) was successfully expressed in C. reinhardtii transformants and accounted for 0.35% of the total soluble protein (TSP). Furthermore, the results of antibacterial assay revealed that the cALFPm3 could significantly inhibit the growth of a variety of bacteria, including both Gram-negative bacteria and Gram-positive bacteria at a concentration of 0.77 μM. Especially, the inhibition could last longer than 24 h, which performed better than ampicillin. Hence, this study successfully developed a transgenic C. reinhardtii strain, which can produce the active ALFPm3 driven from P. monodon, providing a potential strategy to use C. reinhardtii as the cell factory to produce antimicrobial peptides.     

白羊草R2R3-MYB转录因子的挖掘及对干旱胁迫反应的研究

本文以白羊草（Bothriochloa ischaemum）为材料，利用其目前已有的转录组序列，通过搜索、比对、功能域多态性分析、进化树构建和基因表达分析等手段，对白羊草R2R3-MYB型转录因子进行挖掘和干旱胁迫下的表达模式分析。结果从白羊草挖掘出43个R2R3-MYB转录因子，它们具有高度保守的[W]-X（19）-[W]-X（19）-[W]-X（n）-[W]-X（18）-[W]结构，主要参与生长发育、次生代谢和逆境响应等生物过程。通过进一步的分析，本研究筛选出8个可能参与干旱胁迫响应的R2R3-MYB转录因子。这为白羊草R2R3-MYB基因的功能研究和开发利用奠定了基础。     

玉米轴色突变体698-3R的遗传鉴定

以辐射诱变获得的玉米红轴突变体698-3R为材料,通过遗传交配设计分析轴色的遗传规律,利用SSR-BSA法初步定位轴色基因,并对候选基因进行克隆和表达分析。结果表明:(1)突变体698-3R的红轴对白轴性状表现为显性遗传,受一对核基因控制,初步定位在第一染色体上的SSR标记phi095与umc1452之间,与phi095相距3.9cM,与umc1452相距7.1cM,将该基因暂定名为C(t);(2)以轴色基因 P1的cDNA为模板克隆C(t),发现698-3R有3个C(t)转录本,而野生型698-3中至少有2个;预测氨基酸序列比对发现,698-3R中3个C(t)蛋白的氨基酸序列与已知P_1-wr蛋白一致,突变使其获得完整的MYB结构域和酸性激活域,而野生型698-3中698-3-P-1蛋白由于编码序列缺失导致移码突变,不具有该功能结构域;(3)对C(t)基因qRT-PCR分析发现,除25DAP外,其余4个时期在698-3R中表达水平均显著或极显著高于698-3;以 A1和 C2基因表达验证分析发现,C(t)与验证基因表达模式一致,说明C(t)可能具有 P1激活调控 A1和 C2基因表达的功能。推测该红轴基因C(t)可能为一个 P_1-wr基因。     

奶牛乳脂性状候选基因EEF1D突变位点功能分析

提高乳脂含量、提升奶质已成为当前奶牛业研究的重点方向之一。前期经GWAS方法研究发现,EEF1D基因5'非翻译区(5'-UTR)的G/A突变与乳脂率极显著相关,为了进一步对候选基因EEF1D的突变位点进行功能分析,首先通过人工合成获得了EEF1D基因突变型与野生型片段,并在细胞水平上对其开展了功能验证实验。研究发现,EEF1D基因5'-UTR的G/A突变引起Sp3转录起始位点后移33 bp,并且突变型的活性大约是野生型的3倍。研究结果表明,该突变可改变转录因子的转录起始位点,从而使EEF1D的表达上调。