Advancing the production efficiency and profitability of aquaculture is dependent upon the ability to utilize a diverse array of genetic resources. The ultimate goals of aquaculture genomics, genetics and breeding research are to enhance aquaculture production efficiency, sustainability, product quality, and profitability in support of the commercial sector and for the benefit of consumers. In order to achieve these goals, it is important to understand the genomic structure and organization of aquaculture species, and their genomic and phenomic variations, as well as the genetic basis of traits and their interrelationships. In addition, it is also important to understand the mechanisms of regulation and evolutionary conservation at the levels of genome, transcriptome, proteome, epigenome, and systems biology. With genomic information and information between the genomes and phenomes, technologies for marker/causal mutation-assisted selection, genome selection, and genome editing can be developed for applications in aquaculture. A set of genomic tools and resources must be made available including reference genome sequences and their annotations (including coding and non-coding regulatory elements), genome-wide polymorphic markers, efficient genotyping platforms, high-density and high-resolution linkage maps, and transcriptome resources including non-coding transcripts. Genomic and genetic control of important performance and production traits, such as disease resistance, feed conversion efficiency, growth rate, processing yield, behaviour, reproductive characteristics, and tolerance to environmental stressors like low dissolved oxygen, high or low water temperature and salinity, must be understood. QTL need to be identified, validated across strains, lines and populations, and their mechanisms of control understood. Causal gene(s) need to be identified. Genetic and epigenetic regulation of important aquaculture traits need to be determined, and technologies for marker-assisted selection, causal gene/mutation-assisted selection, genome selection, and genome editing using CRISPR and other technologies must be developed, demonstrated with applicability, and application to aquaculture industries.Major progress has been made in aquaculture genomics for dozens of fish and shellfish species including the development of genetic linkage maps, physical maps, microarrays, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) arrays, transcriptome databases and various stages of genome reference sequences. This paper provides a general review of the current status, challenges and future research needs of aquaculture genomics, genetics, and breeding, with a focus on major aquaculture species in the United States: catfish, rainbow trout, Atlantic salmon, tilapia, striped bass, oysters, and shrimp. While the overall research priorities and the practical goals are similar across various aquaculture species, the current status in each species should dictate the next priority areas within the species. This paper is an output of the USDA Workshop fo...

Understanding the molecular basis for controlled H 2 O 2 activation is of fundamental importance for peroxide-driven catalysis by metalloenzymes. In addition to O 2 activation in the presence of stoichiometric reductants, an increasing number of metalloenzymes are found to activate the H 2 O 2 cosubstrate for oxidative transformations in the absence of stoichiometric reductants. Herein, we characterized the X-ray structure of the P450BM3 F87A mutant in complex with the dual-functional small molecule (DFSM) N-(ω-imidazolyl)-hexanoyl-Lphenylalanine (Im-C6-Phe), which enables an efficient peroxygenase activity for P450BM3. Our computational investigations show that the H 2 O 2 activations by P450BM3 are highly dependent on the substrate and the DFSM. In the absence of both the substrate and the DFSM, H 2 O 2 activation via the O−O homolysis mechanism is significantly inhibited by the H-bonding network from the proximal H of H 2 O 2 . However, the presence of the substrate expels the solvation waters and disrupts the H-bonding network from the proximal H of H 2 O 2 , thus remarkably favoring homolytic O−O cleavage toward Cpd I formation. However, the presence of the DFSM forms a proton channel between the imidazolyl group of the DFSM and the proximal H of H 2 O 2 , thus enabling a heterolytic O−O cleavage and Cpd I formation that is greatly favored over the homolysis mechanism. Meanwhile, our simulations demonstrate that the H-bonding network from the distal H of H 2 O 2 is the key to control of the H 2 O 2 activation in the homolytic route. These findings are in line with all available experimental data and highlight the key roles of H-bonding networks in dictating H 2 O 2 activations.

An alginate lyase-producing bacterial strain, Pseudoalteromonas sp. SM0524, was screened from marine rotten kelp. In an optimized condition, the production of alginate lyase from Pseudoalteromonas sp. SM0524 reached 62.6 U/mL, suggesting that strain SM0524 is a good producer of alginate lyases. The bifunctional alginate lyase aly-SJ02 secreted by strain SM0524 was purified. Aly-SJ02 had an apparent molecular mass of 32 kDa. The optimal temperature and pH of aly-SJ02 toward sodium alginate was 50 °C and 8.5, respectively. The half life period of aly-SJ02 was 41 min at 40 °C and 20 min at 50 °C. Aly-SJ02 was most stable at pH 8.0. N-terminal sequence analysis suggested that aly-SJ02 may be an alginate lyase of polysaccharide lyase family 18. Aly-SJ02 showed activities toward both polyG (α-l-guluronic acid) and polyM (β-d-mannuronic acid), indicating that it is a bifunctional alginate lyase. Aly-SJ02 had lower Km toward polyG than toward polyM and sodium alginate. Thin layer chromatography and ESI-MS analyses showed that aly-SJ02 mainly released dimers and trimers from polyM and alginate, and trimers and tetramers from polyG, which suggests that aly-SJ02 may be a good tool to produce dimers and trimers from alginate.

Marine bacterial alginate lyases play a role in marine alginate degradation and carbon cycling. Although a large number of alginate lyases have been characterized, reports on alginate lyases with special characteristics are still rather less. Here, a gene alyPM encoding an alginate lyase of polysaccharide lyase family 7 (PL7) was cloned from marine Pseudoalteromonas sp. SM0524 and expressed in Escherichia coli. AlyPM shows 41% sequence identity to characterized alginate lyases, indicating that AlyPM is a new PL7 enzyme. The optimal pH for AlyPM activity was 8.5. AlyPM showed the highest activity at 30°C and remained 19% of the highest activity at 5°C. AlyPM was unstable at temperatures above 30°C and had a low Tm of 37°C. These data indicate that AlyPM is a cold-adapted enzyme. Moreover, AlyPM is a salt-activated enzyme. AlyPM activity in 0.5–1.2 M NaCl was sixfolds higher than that in 0 M NaCl, probably caused by a significant increase in substrate affinity, because the Km of AlyPM in 0.5 M NaCl decreased more than 20-folds than that in 0 M NaCl. AlyPM preferably degraded polymannuronate and mainly released dimers and trimers. These data indicate that AlyPM is a new PL7 endo-alginate lyase with special characteristics.