Eastern little tuna,Euthynnus affinis (Cantor, 1849) mature and reproduce within 1 year of rearing in land‐based tanks

Eastern little tuna (ELT, Euthynnus affinis) is expected to see use as a novel aquaculture species due to its rapid growth and high economic value. In this study, closing of the complete life cycle of ELT in land‐based tanks was successfully carried out. Seed production of a first generation (F1) derived from wild‐caught ELT broodstock was conducted in 2010, 2011 and 2012. Survival percentages of F1 ELT at 365 days post hatching for the 2010, 2011 and 2012 year classes were 0.9%, 0.4% and 6.3% respectively. On average, F1 ELT were approximately 40 cm in total length and weighed 1500 g by the time they reached 1 year of age. Successful artificial induction of spawning was achieved in 1‐year‐old F1 ELT using a gonadotropin‐releasing hormone analogue (GnRHa). Induction of spawning was successful at the first administration of GnRHa in the 2010, 2011 and 2012 year classes. First spawning was observed at 4 or 5 days post implantation, which indicated that oogenesis and spermatogenesis progressed within 1 year of rearing in land‐based tanks. During spawning periods, the average number of fertilized eggs and the average number of hatched larvae per spawning event in the 2010, 2011 and 2012 year classes were 20,480 eggs day^?1 and 177 larvae day^?1, 39,423 eggs day^?1 and 9347 larvae day^?1, and 819,555 eggs day^?1 and 674,445 larvae day^?1 respectively. Therefore, it was concluded that both male and female ELT reared in land‐based tanks were capable of reproduction at 1 year of age.     

Phylogenetic analysis of Myanmar indigenous chickens using mitochondrial D-loop sequence reveals their characteristics as a genetic resource

Myanmar indigenous chickens play important roles in food, entertainment, and farm business for the people of Myanmar. In this study, complete mitochondrial D-loop sequences (1232 bp) were analyzed using 176 chickens, including three indigenous breeds, two fighting cock populations, and three indigenous populations to elucidate genetic diversity and accomplish a phylogenetic analysis of Myanmar indigenous chickens. The average haplotype and nucleotide diversities were 0.948 ± 0.009 and 0.00814 ± 0.00024, respectively, exhibiting high genetic diversity of Myanmar indigenous chickens. Sixty-four haplotypes were classified as seven haplogroups, with the majority being haplogroup F. The breeds and populations except Inbinwa had multiple maternal haplogroups, suggesting that they experienced no recent purifying selection and bottleneck events. All breeds and populations examined shared haplogroup F. When 232 sequences belonging to haplogroup F (79 from Myanmar and 153 deposited sequences from other Asian countries/region) were analyzed together, the highest genetic diversity was observed in Myanmar indigenous chickens. Furthermore, Myanmar indigenous chickens and red junglefowls were observed in the center of the star-like median-joining network of 37 F-haplotypes, suggesting that Myanmar is one of the origins of haplogroup F. These findings revealed the unique genetic characteristic of Myanmar indigenous chickens as important genetic resources.     

The effect of random and density‐dependent variation in sampling efficiency on variance of abundance estimates from fishery surveys

Abundance indices (AIs) provide information on population abundance and trends over time, while AI variance (AIV) provides information on reliability or quality of the AI. AIV is an important output from surveys and is commonly used in formal assessments of survey quality, in survey comparison studies, and in stock assessments. However, uncertainty in AIV estimates is poorly understood and studies on the precision and bias in survey AIV estimates are lacking. Typically, AIV estimates are “design based” and are derived from sampling theory under some aspect of randomized samples. Inference on population density in these cases can be confounded by unaccounted process errors such as those due to variable sampling efficiency (q). Here, we simulated fish distribution and surveys to assess the effect of q and variance in q on design‐based estimates of AIV. Simulation results show that the bias and precision of AIV depend on the mean q and variance in q. We conclude that to fully evaluate the reliability of AI, both observation error and variability in q must be accounted for when estimating AIV. A decrease in mean q and an increase in the variance in q results in increased bias and decreased precision in survey AIV estimates. These effects are likely small in surveys with mean q ≥ 1. However, for surveys where q ≤ 0.5, these effects can be large. Regardless of the survey type, AIV estimates can be improved with knowledge of q and variance in q.     

Establishing a ready biodegradability test system using OxiTop® to evaluate chemical fate in a realistic environment

The purpose of this study is to propose the use of OxiTop® for measuring biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) under the Japanese Chemical Substances Control Law in order to properly evaluate chemical fate in a real environment. In our previous study, the biodegradation of test chemicals was accelerated by both adsorbing the chemical to silica gel with chloroform and increasing the medium volume from 300 to 3900 mL in the OECD 301F test using a coulometer. However, the biodegradability of these chemicals could not be evaluated based on BOD due to chloroform residue in the silica gel, or the medium volume could not be increased further due to the oven size of the coulometer. In this study, we established an evaluation system using OxiTop® based on BOD by increasing the medium volume to 9000 mL. Based on triplicate testing, increasing the medium volume accelerated biodegradation and decreased variation in BOD.     

Effect of polymorphism in egg white lysozyme on muramidase and antibacterial activities as well as hatchability in the Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica)

Lysozyme is one of the best characterized antimicrobial proteins in egg white. Three phenotypes of egg white lysozyme in Japanese quail, Coturnix japonica, (namely fast; slow; and the combination, FS) were observed by acid polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The fast phenotype showed faster mobility on Acid-PAGE than the slow phenotype. Comparison of the coding sequences for lysozyme derived from the slow and fast phenotypes revealed a nonsynonymous SNP at nucleotide position 115 from the translation initiation site, which alters AA sequence of lysozyme. This nonsynonymous SNP converted glutamine (Q) in the slow phenotype to lysine (K) in the fast phenotype at AA residue 21 of mature lysozyme (Q21K). Here, we investigated the effect of these phenotypes on muramidase activity, antibacterial activity, and hatchability. Muramidase activity toward isolated cell walls of Micrococcus lysodeikticus was in the order: fast allozyme > slow allozyme > chicken (Gallus gallus), but no significant difference was found among the 3 (P > 0.05). Antibacterial activity against live Staphylococcus aureus cells was significantly greater for the fast allozyme than the slow allozyme from 20 h after incubation (P < 0.05). For the antibacterial effects against live Escherichia coli cells, the activity of fast was significantly higher than that of slow at 16 h after incubation (P < 0.05). Hatchability was estimated for reciprocal crosses of Japanese quail with the FF (fast) and SS (slow) genotypes. Hatchability was 92.5% in FF male × SS female crosses and 87.2% in SS male × FF female crosses. A Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel test revealed a significant difference between the crosses (P < 0.05) and indicated that the female-derived slow phenotype led to improved rates of hatching. Our results suggest that the nonsynonymous SNP in Japanese quail lysozyme influences the electrophoretic migration, muramidase activity, and antibacterial activity of the protein, in addition to the hatchability of the eggs. These results demonstrate, for the first time, a significant difference in antibacterial activity and hatchability between 2 lysozyme phenotypes in Japanese quail.     

Optic pathway degeneration in Japanese black cattle

Degeneration of the optic pathway has been reported in various animal species including cattle. We experienced a case of bilateral optic tract degeneration characterized by severe gliosis in a Japanese black cattle without any obvious visual defects. To evaluate the significance, pathological nature and pathogenesis of the lesions, we examined the optic pathway in 60 cattle (41 Japanese black, 13 Holstein and 6 crossbreed) with or without ocular abnormalities. None of these animals had optic canal stenosis. Degenerative changes with severe gliosis in the optic pathway, which includes the optic nerve, optic chiasm and optic tract, were only observed in 8 Japanese black cattle with or without ocular abnormalities. Furthermore, strong immunoreactivity of glial fibrillary acidic protein was observed in the retinal stratum opticum and ganglion cell layer in all 5 cattle in which the optic pathway lesions could be examined. As etiological research, we also examined whether the concentrations of vitamin A and vitamin B12 or bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) infection was associated with optic pathway degeneration. However, our results suggested that the observed optic pathway degeneration was probably not caused by these factors. These facts indicate the presence of optic pathway degeneration characterized by severe gliosis that has never been reported in cattle without bilateral compressive lesions in the optic pathway or bilateral severe retinal atrophy.     

Spatial distribution of soil carbon and nitrogen storage and forest productivity in a watershed planted to Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica D. Don)

Digital terrain modeling was used to evaluate landscape-level spatial variation of soil C and N storage and site productivity in Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica D. Don) stands. Soil C and N storage were measured in samples from surface soils (0–25 cm depth) of 29 Japanese cedar stands in the 205-ha Myougodani watershed, Toyama Prefecture. The site index (C. japonica tree height at age 40 years) was used as a measure of forest productivity. Seven terrain attributes (elevation, slope gradient, aspect, profile curvature, plan curvature, openness, and wetness index) were calculated from a digital elevation model. Soil C and N storage were negatively correlated with slope gradient and positively correlated with openness. Variation in the site index was closely related to the wetness index. The prediction models using terrain attributes as explanatory variables explained 50% of the variability in soil C storage, 53% of the variability in soil N storage, and 75% of the variability in site index. This result demonstrated that this technique is useful for estimating the spatial distribution of soil properties and productivity in forest landscapes. On the other hand, there was no correlation between site index and soil C and N storage. Use of the prediction models in a geographic information system revealed that the spatial distribution of forest productivity differed considerably from those of soil C and N storage.     

Expression of hepatitis C virus core protein associated with malignant lymphoma in transgenic mice

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major causative agent for chronic liver diseases leading to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and has also been suggested to be a possible etiologic factor for different lymphoproliferative diseases, including mixed cryoglobulinemia (MC) and B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). To understand the roles of HCV core protein in the pathogenesis of HCV related diseases, we produced two lines of the transgenic mice (HC82310 and HC9053) that express the HCV core transgene. One of the lines, HC9053, developed malignant lymphoma (ML, follicular center cell type) with a high frequency (80%) at the ages over 20 months. Hepatocellular adenoma was also observed in this line of transgenic mouse. We demonstrated expression of HCV core protein and mRNA in the liver of transgenic mice, and also detected the core mRNA in the enlarged lymph nodes of the transgenic mice which developed ML. These results suggest that the core protein may play an important role in the development of ML, and that the HC9053 transgenic mice provide suitable models for understanding the mechanism of HCV-related lymphoproliferative diseases.     

Linkage mapping of four chicken calpain genes

Calpains are intracellular Ca²⁺‐dependent proteases and enzymes that contribute to growth and meat quality. In the present study, we identified polymorphisms in four calpain genes (CAPN1, CAPN2, CAPN3, and CAPN1.5) expressed ubiquitously in chicken using polymerase chain reaction‐restriction fragment length polymorphism, and mapped them using two backcross families (East Lansing (EL) and Kobe University (KU)). CAPN2 and CAPN1.5 mapped to two locations on chromosome 3 about 30 cM apart, while CAPN3 mapped to chromosome 5. CAPN1 was linked to a previously unlinked microsatellite marker LEI0140 to form a new linkage group called E66. CAPN2 and CAPN3 extend the amount of conserved synteny between chicken chromosome 3 and human chromosome 1, and between chicken chromosome 5 and human chromosome 15, respectively. Although CAPN2, CAPN3, and CAPN1.5 were found in the University of California Santa Cruz chicken genome browser gateway, CAPN1 and LEI0140 were not in specific genomic positions.