A 56 day feeding trial was conducted to examine the effects of different levels dietary histamine on growth performance, immune response, and intestinal health grouper ( Epinephelus coioides ). Seven isonitrogenous (46%), isolipidic (10%) diets were prepared with supplement 0 (T0), 0.05% (T1), 0.1% (T2), 0.15% (T3), 0.2% (T4), 0.25% (T5), 0.3% (T6), respectively. The results showed that supplem...

In mammals, leptin has been demonstrated to perform important roles in many physiological activities and to influence development, growth, metabolism and reproduction. However, in fish, its function is still unclear. Duplicate leptin genes, leptin-a and leptin-b, have been identified in the orange-spotted grouper. In the present study, the polymorphisms in the leptin-b gene of the orange-spotte...

In natural waterways and estuaries, the understanding of turbulent mixing is critical to the knowledge of sediment transport, stormwater runoff during flood events, and release of nutrient-rich wastewater into ecosystems. In the present study, some field measurements were conducted in a small subtropical estuary with micro-tidal range and semi-diurnal tides during king tide conditions: i.e., th...

Myostatin is a negative regulator of myogenesis and has been suggested to be an important factor in the development of muscle wasting during viral infection. The objective of this study was to characterize the main regulatory element of the grouper myostatin promoter and to study changes in promoter activity due to viral stimulation. In vitro and in vivo experiments indicated that the E-box E6 ...

We examined the efficacy of androgens (1.0 mg/kg body mass), testosterone (T), 11-ketotestosterone (11-KT), 17alpha-methyltestosterone (MT), testosterone propionate (TP) or androgen mixture (T, MT and TP in an equal ratio), for induction of sex change in protogynous orange-spotted grouper, Epinephelus coioides. The spawning performance in sex-changed males was also investigated. MT and androgen...

The Down syndrome cell adhesion molecule (DSCAM), an immunoglobulin (Ig) superfamily member, was first identified from human and subsequently isolated from both vertebrates and invertebrates. Recent studies have shown that the DSCAM molecule serves diverse functions in neurodevelopment, such as axon guidance and neuronal migration. Most studies on DSCAM, however, have focused on mammals and art...

Chemokine (C-X-C motif) receptor 4 (CXCR4) from orange-spotted grouper (Epinephelus coioides) was identified and characterized in this study. gCXCR4 shared common features in protein sequence and predicted structure of CXCR4 family. This suggested that gCXCR4 is a member of G protein-coupled receptors with seven transmembrane domains. The expression patterns revealed that gCXCR4 may play a key ...