Studies on lymphoid organ spheroid (LOS) cells of Penaeus monodon were undertaken. Phenoloxidase and peroxidase assays showed that LOS cells have characteristics similar to semi-granular and, in particular, large granular haemocytes. The mean percentage of LOS cells positive for phenoloxidase and peroxidase was 85 +/- 23 and 82 +/- 23%, respectively. There was no significant difference between ...

BACKGROUND The multixenobiotic resistance system (MXR) allows aquatic organisms to cope with their habitat despite high pollution levels by over-expressing membrane and intracellular transporters, including the P-glycoprotein (Pgp). In mammals transcription of the ABCB1 gene encoding Pgp is under cAMP/PKA-mediated regulation; whether this is true in mollusks is not fully clarified. METHODOLOG...

In the past decades, shellfish culture has developed in a significant way around the world. However, culture areas are often subject to recurring anthropic pollution. The recrudescent presence of industrial wastes is a source of heavy metals and results in pollutant transfer towards the aquatic environment in estuarine areas. Because of their mode of life, bivalves, including mussels and oyster...

The melanotic encapsulation response mounted by Drosophila melanogaster against macroparasites, which is based on haemocyte binding to foreign objects, is poorly characterized relative to its humoral immune response against microbes, and appears to be variable across insect lineages. The genus Zaprionus is a diverse clade of flies embedded within the genus Drosophila. Here we characterize the i...

Acetylcholine (ACh) is the main neurotransmitter in the cholinergic neuroendocrine system and plays an indispensable role in modulating diverse immune responses. As important transporters in choline uptake, choline transporter-like proteins (CTLs) can control ACh synthesis and release indirectly in multiple organisms. In this study, cgi-miR-2d, an invertebrate-specific miRNA in oyster Crassostr...

Galleria mellonella larvae are widely used for assessing the virulence of microbial pathogens and for measuring the in vivo activity of antimicrobial agents and produce results comparable to those that can be obtained using mammals. The aim of the work described here was to ascertain the effect of pre-incubation at 15°C for 1, 3, 6 or 10 weeks on the susceptibility of larvae to infection with C...

The signal freshwater crayfish Pacifastacus leniusculus was found to be susceptible to infection with white spot syndrome virus (WSSV). Histopathological observations of various tissues of virus-injected crayfish showed similar symptoms to those from WSSV-infected penaeid shrimp, but no appearance of white spots on the cuticle or reddish body colour were observed, although these are the promine...

Heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) is a highly conserved protein and plays an important role in maintaining the structure of protein, participating in the immunity and regulating the cell cycle. Using the rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) techniques, the cDNA sequence of HSP90 gene (designated SpHSP90) was cloned and characterized from the mud crab Scylla paramamosain. The full-length cDNA of ...

The haemopoietic organs in Vth instar larvae of P. demoleus are in the form of thin transparent cellular sheets, closely wrapped around the base of each wing-pad. Three cell types viz; prohaemocytes, plasmatocytes and oenocytoids appear to be derived from these organs and their ablation caused a reduction in cell number which, in turn, revealed that the haemocytes in general are derived both fr...