Increasing evidence suggests that the insulin-like androgenic gland hormone (IAG) gene plays an important role in male sexual differentiation, metabolism, and growth in crustaceans. In the present study, we isolated the full-length genome sequence of IAG by genome walking based on the cDNA sequence in Macrobrachium nipponense. Four novel single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were studied, incl...

The potential causes of adult sex ratio variation in guppies Poecilia reticulata were tested in laboratory experiments that evaluated the mortality rates of male and female P. reticulata exposed to potential predators (Hart's rivulus Rivulus hartii and freshwater prawns Macrobrachium crenulatum) and to different resource levels. Poecilia reticulata mortality increased in the presence of R. hart...

In this study, two Sxl gene homologs, designated as Mnsxl1 and Mnsxl2, were cloned and characterized from the freshwater prawn Macrobrachium nipponense by rapid amplification of cDNA ends. The deduced amino acid sequences of Mnsxl1 and Mnsxl2 showed high sequence homology to the insect Sxl and contained conserved domains in two RNA-binding motifs. Real-time quantitative reverse transcription-po...

Angiostrongylus cantonensis (Chen), a metastrongylid lungworm of rats, was recovered from the brain of a patient from Hawaii in 1961 (1) and since has become the principal suspect in the search for the etiologic agent of the eosinophilic meningitis seen on Pacific Islands (2-5). Since epidemiologic investigations (1,4,6) suggest that certain food animals may be involved in the transmission of t...

In this study, the first phase of Toxicity Identification Evaluation (TIE) was used to characterise the major toxicants present in a Malaysian landfill leachate, using multispecies bioassay. Freshwater fish (Rasbora sumatrana), freshwater prawn (Macrobrachium lanchesteri) and tomato seeds (Lycopersicon esculentum) were chosen as test species based on local availability, as well as their broad s...

Semicarbazide (SEM) is the metabolite of the illegal veterinary nitrofurazone (NFZ) in aquatic animal. However there are increasing occurrences that SEM has been found in Macrobrachium Nipponese (M. Nipponese) prawns during the routine quality controls testing for aquatic food in China since 2008. To ascertain the presence and source of SEM, prawn samples were collected from different resources...

The present study demonstrates non viral gene delivery using chitosan nanoparticles in Macrobrachium rosenbergii as model organism. Chitosan nanoparticles were synthesized by ionic gelation method. The mean particle size of chitosan nanoparticles was 27.6nm. The Polydispersity index was found to be 0.448 and zeta potential was +24.79mV. Green fluorescent protein encoding plasmid (PDB-402) was u...

The Yanomami are a group of South American Indians that live in the rainforest along the borderlands of Brazil and Venezuela. They depend on hunting, gardening and wild food for survival; crustaceans are a highly prized food item in their diet. Taxonomical and ethnozoological aspects of the Yanomami Indians of the Balawa-ú village, state of Amazonas, Brazil, related to the crustaceans are descr...

The freshwater giant prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii inoculated with Pseudomonas aeruginosa MTCC 1688 revealed pathogenic symptoms in certain tissue biochemical parameters. The tissue proteins showed proteolysis. The chitinase and phenol oxidase activity in tissues revealed marked inhibition. The culmination of these biochemical changes is attributed to the tissue pathological changes characte...

Many freshwater shrimps (Decapoda, Caridea) have amphidromous life histories, with extended planktonic larval development in the sea. Larvae either are hatched upstream to drift down to the sea or are carried and released there by females. After development, postlarvae (juveniles) must migrate back up to their adult freshwater habitat. An amphidromous life cycle thus involves long distance migr...