The 16,260-bp mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from the starfish Asterina pectinifera has been sequenced. The genes for 13 proteins, two rRNAs and 22 tRNAs are organized in an extremely economical fashion, similar to those of other animal mtDNAs, with some of the genes overlapping each other. The gene organization is the same as that for another echinoderm, sea urchin, except for the inversion of a 4....

Phospholipase A(2) (PLA(2)) from the pyloric ceca of the starfish Asterina pectinifera showed high specific activity and characteristic substrate specificity, compared with commercially available PLA(2) from porcine pancreas. To investigate enzymatic properties of the starfish PLA(2) in further detail, we constructed a bacterial expression system for the enzyme. The starfish PLA(2) cDNA isolate...

Feeding in starfish is a remarkable process in which the cardiac stomach is everted over prey and then retracted when prey tissue has been resorbed. Previous studies have revealed that SALMFamide-type neuropeptides trigger cardiac stomach relaxation and eversion in the starfish Asterias rubens. We hypothesized, therefore, that a counteracting neuropeptide system controls cardiac stomach contrac...

Starfish have a wide range of feeding habits, including starfish, sea urchins, cucumbers, corals, abalones, scallops, and many other marine organisms with economic or ecological value. The starfish outbreak in coastal areas will lead to severe losses aquaculture damage the environment. However, current monitoring methods are still artificial, time-consuming, laborious. This study used an underw...

arm grooves of star-fish have mesenchymal stem cells derived from adipose tissue cell. widespread studies have shown that stem cells derived from adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cell from bone marrow have many similarities in terms of the ability to differentiate into a variety of tissues. most of the animals live in warm and shallow waters and the waters of this feature is that it is low in d...

NAADP is involved in the Ca response observed at fertilization in the oocytes of several species, including starfish. In this study, we have used Ca imaging and the single-electrode voltage-clamp technique with the aim to investigate whether the NAADP-mediated Ca entry in starfish oocytes discovered in our laboratory was underlain by a membrane current and whether the Ca response to NAADP requi...

This paper introduces a software system for detecting and tracking starfish in an underwater video sequence. The target of such a system is to help biologists in giving an estimate of the amount of starfish present in a particular area of the sea-bottom. The nature of the input images is characterised by a low ratio signal/noise and by the presence of noisy background represented by pebbles; th...

In the starfish, Asterias amurensis, three components in the jelly coat of eggs, namely acrosome reaction-inducing substance (ARIS), Co-ARIS and asterosap, act in concert on homologous spermatozoa to induce the acrosome reaction (AR). Molecular recognition between the sperm surface molecules and the egg jelly molecules must underlie signal transduction events triggering the AR. Asterosap is a s...

Carotenoids of the corals Acropora japonica, A. secale, and A. hyacinthus, the tridacnid clam Tridacna squamosa, the crown-of-thorns starfish Acanthaster planci, and the small sea snail Drupella fragum were investigated. The corals and the tridacnid clam are filter feeders and are associated with symbiotic zooxanthellae. Peridinin and pyrrhoxanthin, which originated from symbiotic zooxanthellae...