Three new γ-butenolide derivatives 1–3, named spiculisporic acids B–D, were isolated from the culture of Aspergillus sp. HDf2, a marine-derived fungus that resides in the sea urchin, Anthocidaris crassispina. The structures of 1–3 were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic methods, including MS and 2D NMR techniques. Their in vitro cytotoxic activities against two cell lines (SGC-7901, human gastric adenocarcinoma and SPC-A-1, human lung adenocarcinoma) and inhibitory activities against Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 51650 were investigated.

The complete mitochondrial genome of Cypraea tigris from the South China Sea has been determined, which was the first report of complete mitogenome in the superfamily Cypraeoidea. It is 16,177 bp long and consists of 21 tRNA genes, 2 rRNA genes, 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), and 1 control region. The base composition of C. tigris mitogenome is biased (A, G, T, and C were 28.8, 17.9, 37.1, and 16.3%, respectively) with A þ T contents of 58.5%. All of the PCGs use a typical start codon (ATN) and a complete stop codon (TAA or TAG) as normal. The maximum-likelihood tree demonstrated that the Cypraeoidea was closer to the superfamily Tonnoidea, and further clarified the phylogenetic relationships of each superfamily in Littorinimorpha.

The complete mitochondrial genome of Anadara antiquata was first determined. With a length of 45,454 bp, it consists of 29 tRNA, 2 rRNA, and 17 protein-coding genes (PCGs). The non-coding region was large and atypical around the genome with total 24,162 bp long. The nucleotide composition is significantly biased with AT contents of 62.2%. PCGs have five types of start codon, and terminate with a complete stop codon TAA or TAG. 19 microsatellites (SSRs) were identified in mitogenome sequences. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that A. antiquata was first clustered with Anadara vellicate, then together with Tegillarca granosa.

Whiteleg shrimp is a widely cultured crustacean, but frequent disease outbreaks have decreased production and caused significant losses. Toll‐like receptors (TLRs) comprise a large innate immune family that is involved in the innate immune response. However, understanding of their regulatory mechanism is limited. In this study, PacBio sequencing and Illumina sequencing were applied to the gill and hepatopancreas tissues of whiteleg shrimp and an integrated transcript gene set was established. The upregulation of Toll1, Toll2 and Toll3 transcripts in the hepatopancreas tissue of whiteleg shrimp after iridescent virus infection implies that these proteins are involved in the immune response to the virus; simultaneously, the TRAF6 and relish transcripts in the Toll pathway were also upregulated, implying that the Toll pathway was activated. We predicted the three‐dimensional structure of the five Toll proteins in whiteleg shrimp and humans and constructed a phylogenetic tree of the Toll protein family. In addition, there was a large discrepancy of Toll1 between invertebrates and vertebrates, presumably because of the loss of Toll1 protein sequence during the evolution process from invertebrates to vertebrates. Our research will improve the cognition of Toll protein family in invertebrates in terms of evolution, structure and function and provide theoretical guidance for researchers in this field.

In this study, the whole mitochondrial genome of the Purple Spot Mantis Shrimp Gonodactylus smithii from the South China Sea was determined using next-generation sequencing. The circular mitogenome of G. smithii is 16,260 bp long and consists of 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 tRNA genes, and two rRNA genes. The base composition is AT-rich and has an overall AT content of 67.76% (composition of A, G, T, and C was 35.30%, 12.41%, 32.46%, and 19.83%, respectively). Among 13 PCGs, 12 PCGs shared a common ATN as the start codon except COX1 gene using an abnormal putative first codon GCG. 11 PCGs ended with TAA or TAG, while ND6, COX2 gene terminated with a single T and ND3 gene used a special "GAT" as the stop codon. The phylogenetic tree showed that G. smithii was clustered with Gonodactylus chiragra, then together with Gonodactylaceus randalli.