Digestive enzyme activities during early ontogeny in Common snook (Centropomus undecimalis)

Abstract

Common snook (Centropomus undecimalis) is one of the most important marine species under commercial exploitation in the Gulf of Mexico; for this reason, interest in developing its culture is a priority. However, larviculture remains as the main bottleneck for massive production. In this sense, our objective was to determine the changes of digestive enzymes activities using biochemical and electrophoretic techniques during 36 days of Common snook larviculture fed with live preys (microalgae, rotifers, and Artemia). During larviculture, all digestive enzymatic activities were detected with low values since yolk absorption, 2 days after hatching (dah) onwards. However, the maximum values for alkaline protease (6,500 U mg protein(-1)), trypsin (0.053 mU × 10(-3) mg protein(-1)), and Leucine aminopeptidase (1.4 × 10(-3) mU mg protein(-1)) were detected at 12 dah; for chymotrypsin at 25 dah (3.8 × 10(-3) mU mg protein(-1)), for carboxypeptidase A (280 mU mg protein(-1)) and lipase at 36 dah (480 U mg protein(-1)), for α-amylase at 7 dah (1.5 U mg protein(-1)), for acid phosphatases at 34 dah (5.5 U mg protein(-1)), and finally for alkaline phosphatase at 25 dah (70 U mg protein(-1)). The alkaline protease zymogram showed two active bands, the first (26.3 kDa) at 25 dah onwards, and the second (51.6 kDa) at 36 dah. The acid protease zymogram showed two bands (RF = 0.32 and 0.51, respectively) at 34 dah. The digestive enzymatic ontogeny of C. undecimalis is very similar to other strictly marine carnivorous fish, and we suggest that weaning process should be started at 34 dah.

Changes of Digestive Enzymatic Activity on Yellowtail Snapper (Ocyurus chrysurus) During Initial Ontogeny

“…Our results are similar to those reported for other species, where the digestive process in fish larvae in alkaline conditions usually begins with the contribution of pancreatic and cytosolic enzymes (Xiu et al, 2009). In this context, the presence of alkaline proteases, trypsin and specific chymotrypsin, detected in the first days following the mouth opening was similar to the results of carnivorous fish such as P. californicus (Alvarez-González et al 2006), P. maculatofasciatus (Alvarez-González et al 2008) and C. undecimalis (Jiménez-Martínez et al, 2012), where the earliest activity corresponds to alkaline proteases, as the acid protease activity is closely related to the occurrence of a functional stomach which takes place later (Moyano et al, 1996;Alarcón-López & Martínez-Díaz, 1998;Zambonino Infante & Cahu, 2001;Alvarez-González et al 2008;Jiménez-Martínez et al, 2012).…”

“…Previous studies on the digestive capacity of marine fish larvae focused in the relationship among live food diets with anatomical changes during metamorphosis. Artificial diets provide adequate quality in function of digestive enzymes present in larvae, improving survival, growth and resistance of this species (Jiménez-Martínez et al, 2012). Our results are similar to those reported for other species, where the digestive process in fish larvae in alkaline conditions usually begins with the contribution of pancreatic and cytosolic enzymes (Xiu et al, 2009).…”

“…The bottleneck in the commercial culture of this species is a high mortality in the early life stages therefore nutrition studies in larvae and juveniles are vital for a commercial scale production (Moyano, Díaz, Alarcón, & Sarasquete, 1996). Drawbridge, Jiménez-Martínez et al, 2012) considering that the feed efficiency depends on fish physiological capabilities for transforming nutrient intake (Alvarez-González et al, 2006;Xiu et al, 2009;Babaei, Kenari, Nazarí, & Gisbert. 2011).…”

“…Thus, the activity of digestive enzymes from hatching to juvenile period can be used as an indicator of nutritional status in early life stage (Moyano et al, 1996;Álvarez-González et al, 2006;Galaviz et al, 2011;Gisbert, Fernández, & Álvarez-González, 2011;Babaei et al, 2011). Several ontogeny studies on digestive physiology during larviculture have been reported as Moyano et al (1996) in Sparus aurata; Zambonino-Infante and Cahu (2001) in Dicentrarchus labrax; Alvarez-González et al (2006) in Paralichthys californicus, Alvarez-González et al (2008) in Paralabrax maculatofasciatus; Xiu et al (2009) in Miichthys miiuy and Jiménez- Martínez et al (2012) in Centropomus undecimalis; whose concluded that larvae before the first exogenous feeding may already be able to absorb the nutrients from the diet as well as changes in the enzymatic activity of various digestive enzymes is very similar to other strictly carnivorous marine fishes. Additional studies have been conducted on the early development of the Menidia menidia and Odontestes bonarensis digestive system to determine the time of maximum enzyme activity (Toledo et al, 2011).…”

Partial Characterization of Digestive Proteases in the Common Snook Centropomus undecimalis

“…In Mexico, the culture of marine fish is based on a few species such as spotted rose snapper (Lutjanus guttatus) (Ibarra-Castro, & Alvarez-Lajonchère, 2011), totoaba (Totoaba macdonaldi) (Galaviz, et al 2015) and red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus) (Gatlin III, 2002). In the State of Tabasco one of the most important commercial species is the common snook (Centropomus undecimalis), which is considered a euryhaline species with many adequate biological characteristics for its culture (Alvarez-Lajonchère, & Taylor, 2003); nevertheless, digestive physiology related to the changes of the digestive enzyme during initial ontogeny has been briefly studied (Jiménez-Martínez et al 2012). Hence, the objective of this study was to characterize digestive proteases in C. undecimalis juveniles.…”