No abstract

Chinese medaka Oryzias sinensis (Teleostei: Beloniformes) is distributed in China and the western areas of Korea. It differs from the Japanese medaka O. latipes in its morphology and biogeographical distribution in Korea. In this study, we analyzed the complete nucleotide sequence of the mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) of O. sinensis and determined its genomic structure. The complete mitogenome is a circular molecule of 16,654 bp and its structural organization is conserved across diverse vertebrate taxa. On a phylogenetic tree inferred from the nucleotide matrix, partitioned into four regions (i.e., the first and second codon positions of protein-coding genes, and the ribosomal RNA and transfer RNA genes), O. sinensis clustered consistently with O. latipes specimens from China and Korea, with a relatively short branch length, but was separated from O. latipes specimen from Japan. Our findings will allow the resolution of the taxonomic problems of closely related Oryzias species, such as O. sinensis and O. latipes in a future study.

Our findings are congruent with the previous taxonomic appraisal based on morphological analysis.

This study examined the effects of the dietary inclusion of various concentrations of red ginseng byproduct (RB) and a mixture containing red ginseng byproduct, garlic extract, yeast and filler (CR) on the growth, body composition, serum chemistry, and lysozyme activity of juvenile olive flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus). Juvenile fish (n = 630) weighing 5.0-g were randomly distributed into 21 180-L flow-through tanks (30 fish/tank). Seven experimental diets were prepared in triplicate: a control diet without additive, and diets containing 0.5, 1 and 2% concentrations of RB (RB-0.5, RB-1, RB-2) and CR (CR-0.5, CR-1, CR-2) at the expense of wheat flour. After an 8-week feeding trial, serum chemistry and lysozyme activity of fish were measured. Mean weight gain was significantly higher in fish fed the control diet than in fish fed the RB and CR diets. The dietary inclusion of RB and CR reduced feed utilization. Mean serum glucose and triglyceride (TG) levels were higher in fish fed the control diet than in fish fed the other diets. Mean glutamate pyruvate transaminase (GPT) levels of fish fed the control and RB-2 diets were higher than those of fish fed the RB-0.5, RB-1, CR-1, and CR-2 diets. Mean lysozyme activity levels of fish fed the RB-0.5 and RB-1 diets were higher than those of fish fed the control and CR diets. The results of this study indicate that red ginseng byproduct may be utilized as an immunostimulant rather than as a growth promoter for juvenile olive flounder. Dietary inclusion of 0.5% red ginseng byproduct effectively improved serum glucose, GPT, TG, and lysozyme activity of the fish in this study.

Giant grouper (Epinephelus lanceolatus) is a commercially important species, but its wild population has recently been classified as vulnerable. This species has significant potential for use in aquaculture, though a greater understanding of population genetics is necessary for selective breeding programs to minimize kinship for genetically healthy individuals. High-throughput pyrosequencing of genomic DNA was used to identify and characterize novel tetra- and trinucleotide microsatellite markers in giant grouper from Sabah, Malaysia. In total, of 62,763 sequences containing simple sequence repeats (SSRs) were obtained, and 78 SSR loci were selected to possibly contain tetra- and trinucleotide repeats. Of these loci, 16 had tetra- and 8 had trinucleotide repeats, all of which exhibited polymorphisms within easily genotyped regions. A total of 143 alleles were identified with an average of 5.94 alleles per locus, with mean observed and expected heterozygosities of 0.648 and 0.620, respectively. Among of them, 15 microsatellite markers were identified without null alleles and with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. These alleles showed a combined non-exclusion probability of 0.01138. The probability of individual identification (PID) value combined with in descending order 12 microsatellite markers was 0.00008, which strongly suggests that the use of the microsatellite markers developed in this study in various combinations would result in a high resolution method for parentage analysis and individual identification. These markers could be used to establish a broodstock management program for giant grouper and to provide a foundation for genetic studies such as population structure, parentage analysis, and kinship selection.