Although infections caused by megalocytiviruses have been reported from a wide range of finfish species for several decades, molecular characterisation of the viruses involved has been undertaken only on more recent cases. Sequence analysis of the major capsid protein and adenosine triphosphatase genes is reported here from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded material from 2 archival ornamental f...

Petal appearance is an important horticultural trail that is generally used to evaluate the ornamental value of plants. However, knowledge of the molecular regulation of petal growth is mostly derived from analyses of Arabidopsis thaliana, and relatively little is known about this process in ornamental plants. Previously, GEG (Gerbera hybrida homolog of the gibberellin [GA]-stimulated transcrip...

Ornamental fish ponds requires continuous control of water quality such as salt content (salinity), hardness (Ca, Mg), and ionic contents particularly nitrate and ammonium. Conductivity is considered as a parameter correlates with these parameters and sensitive to environmental conditions such as temperature. Therefore, a conductivity detector can be employed for control of water quality in aqu...

A total of 74 phenotypically identified presumptive motile Aeromonas isolates recovered from septicaemic freshwater ornamental fish in Sri Lanka were genetically characterized by sequencing of rpoD and gyrB genes. rpoD/gyrB phylogeny confirmed only 53 isolates as Aeromonas, among which A. veronii was the predominant species (79.2%), followed by A. hydrophila (7.5%), A. caviae (5.7%), A. jandaei...

Sexual selection is thought to be opposed by natural selection such that ornamental traits express a balance between these two antagonistic influences. Phenotypic variation among populations may indicate local shifts in this balance, or that different stable 'solutions' are possible, but testing these alternatives presents a major challenge. In the guppy (Poecilia reticulata), a small freshwate...

A colored phenotype is an important feature of ornamental fish. In mammals, microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF) was found to regulate the development of melanocytes. In this study, the mitfa cDNA was first cloned from the Japanese ornamental (Koi) carp (Cyprinus carpio L.), an important ornamental freshwater fish. The full-length cDNA of the mitfa gene contains 1634 bp, coding...

Genetic analysis of avian mating systems has revealed that more than 70% of monogamous species show incidence of offspring parentage that does not match the social partner. Extra-pair parentage (EPP) has been linked to a variety of factors, including size and symmetry of ornamental traits, coloration, resource availability, and local conspecific density. We examined how ornamental plumage trait...

Carotenoid pigments can directly enhance the immune responses of vertebrates, and they are used by many animals to create ornamental color displays. It has been hypothesized that these two functions of carotenoid pigments are linked: animals must trade off use of carotenoid pigments for immune function versus ornamental display. We tested two key predictions of this hypothesis with captive Amer...

One of the most important parameters to develop and manage urban areas is appropriate selection of land surface to develop green spaces in these areas. In this study, in order to identify the most appropriate sites and areas cultivated for ornamental species in Jiroft, Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) images due to extract the most important effective climatic and adaphic parameters...