Notothenioidei are typical Antarctic teleosts evolved to adapt to the very low temperatures of the Antarctic seas. Aim of the present paper is to investigate sequence and structure of C3, the third component of the complement system of the notothenioid Trematomus bernacchii and Chionodraco hamatus. We determined the complete nucleotide sequence of two C3 isoforms of T. bernacchii and a single C...

Acanthocephalans are attractive candidates as model organisms for studying the ecology and co-evolutionary history of parasitic life cycles in the marine ecosystem. Adding to earlier molecular analyses of this taxon, a total of 36 acanthocephalans belonging to the classes Archiacanthocephala (3 species), Eoacanthocephala (3 species), Palaeacanthocephala (29 species), Polyacanthocephala (1 speci...

The white grouper (Epinephelus aeneus) is a promising candidate for domestication and aquaculture due to its fast growth, excellent taste, and high market price. A linkage map is an essential framework for mapping quantitative trait loci for economic traits and the study of genome evolution. DNA of a single individual was deep-sequenced, and microsatellite markers were identified in 177 of the ...

Molecular cloning and nucleotide sequencing of cDNA encoding an orange-spotted grouper (Epinephelus coioides) homolog of Mx ("OsgMx") was conducted and its possible role in fish immunity was analysed. Similar to mammalian Mx, the OsgMx are members of a family of interferon-inducible genes that are expressed by cells in response to nodavirus and iridovirus naturally-infected. Expression of OsgMx...

Despite suspended solids being an important water-quality parameter in the regulatory process, very little is known about the risks of prolonged exposure to high concentrations of suspended solids in fish, especially marine species. In this study, the green grouper Epinephelus coioides, an important mariculture species with a wide geographic distribution, was exposed to various concentrations (...

Piscine iridoviruses infect a wide variety of fish and are classified into three genera: Lymphocystivirus, Ranavirus and Megalocytivirus. Lymphocystiviruses cause non-fatal, dermal infections, while ranaviruses and megalocytiviruses produce devastating, systemic infections with mortality reaching up to 100%. Although both ranaviruses and megalocytiviruses cause fatal systemic infections, they i...

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of Curcuma zedoaria and Zingiber zerumbet on non-specific immune responses of grouper (Epinephelus coioides). Fish were fed an experimental diet containing 0, 0.5, 1.0, 2.5 g/kg of C. zedoaria and Z. zerumbet mixed diets twice daily for two weeks. Non-specific immune parameters such as respiratory burst activity, reactive oxygen species, phago...