Biogeography pattern of the marine angiosperm Cymodocea nodosa in the eastern Mediterranean Sea related to the quaternary climatic changes

Acknowledgments This research has been co-financed by the European Union (European Social Fund – ESF) and Greek national funds through the Operational Program "Education and Lifelong Learning" of the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) - Research Funding Program: THALES. The authors would like to thank M. Malandrakis and A. Lolas for their contribution to sampling.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Responses of the Mediterranean seagrass Cymodocea nodosa to combined temperature and salinity stress at the ionomic, transcriptomic, ultrastructural and photosynthetic levels

Acknowledgements We are particularly grateful to David E. Salt and John M.C. Danku (University of Aberdeen, now at the University of Nottingham) for providing facilities and guidance for the ionomics work within the framework of this study. This research was funded by the European Commission (European Social Fund – ESF; grant no. 375425) and Greek national funds through the Operational Program “Education and Lifelong Learning” of the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) - Research Funding Program: THALES - Investing in knowledge society through the European Social Funds (Project Acronym: MANTOLES). We would also like to thank the TOTAL Foundation (Project “Diversity of brown algae in the Eastern Mediterranean”), the European Commission under its Horizon 2021 Research and Innovation Programme (grants ZEROBRINE, grant agreement No. 730390, and WATERMINING, grant agreement No. 869474) and the UK Natural Environment Research Council for their Supplort to FCK (program Oceans 2025 – WP 4.5 and grants NE/D521522/1 and NE/J023094/1). The MASTS pooling initiative (Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland, funded by the Scottish Funding Council and contributing institutions; grant reference HR09011) is gratefully acknowledged.Peer reviewedPostprin

Mortality and Effect on Growth of Artemia franciscana Exposed to Two Common Organic Pollutants

Acute toxicity and inhibition on growth of Artemia franciscana nauplii (Instar I-II) after exposure to the reference toxicants bisphenol a (BPA) and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) were studied. LC50 values were calculated and differences in body growth were recorded after 24, 48, and 72 h of exposure to the toxicants. The results indicated that BPA had lower toxicity than SDS. Development of the nauplii was clearly influenced by duration of exposure. Growth inhibition was detected for both toxicants. Abnormal growth of the central eye of several Artemia nauplii after 72 h of exposure to BPA was also detected. Our results indicate that growth inhibition could be used as a valid endpoint for toxicity studies

Feeding Behaviour, Swimming Activity and Boldness Explain Variation in Feed Intake and Growth of Sole (Solea solea) Reared in Captivity

The major economic constraint for culturing sole (Solea solea) is its slow and variable growth. The objective was to study the relationship between feed intake/efficiency, growth, and (non-) feeding behaviour of sole. Sixteen juveniles with an average (SD) growth of 2.7 (1.9) g/kg0.8/d were selected on their growth during a 4-week period in which they were housed communally with 84 other fish. Selected fish were housed individually during a second 4-week period to measure individual feed intake, growth, and behaviour. Fish were hand-fed three times a day during the dark phase of the day until apparent satiation. During six different days, behaviour was recorded twice daily during 3 minutes by direct observations. Total swimming activity, frequency of burying and of escapes were recorded. At the beginning and end of the growth period, two sequential behavioural tests were performed: “Novel Environment” and “Light Avoidance”. Fish housed individually still exhibited pronounced variation in feed intake (CV = 23%), growth (CV = 25%) and behavior (CV = 100%). Differences in feed intake account for 79% of the observed individual differences in growth of sole. Fish with higher variation in feed intake between days and between meals within days had significantly a lower total feed intake (r = −0.65 and r = −0.77) and growth. Active fish showed significantly higher feed intake (r = 0.66) and growth (r = 0.58). Boldness during both challenge tests was related to fast growth: (1) fish which reacted with a lower latency time to swim in a novel environment had significantly higher feed intake (r = −0.55) and growth (r = −0.66); (2) fish escaping during the light avoidance test tended to show higher feed intake (P<0.1) and had higher growth (P<0.05). In conclusion, feeding consistency, swimming activity in the tank, and boldness during behavioral tests are related to feed intake and growth of sole in captivity

Population genetics of the Dover sole, Solea solea (Linnaeus, 1758)(Teleostei: soleidae)

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:DXN017497 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Comparison of european sardine (Sardina pilchardus, walbaum 1792) greek haplotypes with those found in the global distribution of the species

The identification of fish stocks is the first step in management and conservation processes. The European Commission has established among others the Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) protection label in order to identify an agricultural product, raw or processed, for which quality, reputation or other characteristics are linked to its geographical origin. In the present study, the Greek Sardina pilchardus haplotypes found with three mitochondrial segments (COI, cytb, D-loop), were compared with the ones previously submitted in the databases, to test the uniqueness of the discovered Greek haplotypes for a future PGI definition. For all the three mtDNA markers, the discovered Greek haplotypes were found to be common with species' haplotypes all over the world. These results reinforce the aspect that a single sardine individual cannot be classified as coming from a certain population (Mediterranean or Atlantic), as most of the data (present and former) support a single evolutionary unit for sardines. © 2021, ALÖKI Kft., Budapest, Hungary

A computer algebra system approach in gene expression analysis

The primary purpose of this study is to provide an immediate connection to analytics of biological functions and visualisation. We introduce a visual framework in the environment of a main computer algebra system (CAS), Mathematica, to picture variations and evolution schemes in gene expression. Our computational approach constructs snapshots for gene expression profiles, with the advantage of being selfevident, concise and clear. A variety of colours is employed, beyond the conventional heat map colours. We provide dynamic options to facilitate comparisons among treatments, several colour choices to perform reference gene selection tests and, thus reveal the variation of gene expression through time and/or among treatments, or genes. The performance of the programming techniques in selected case studies concerning genes involved in embryonic development of common sole (Solea solea), is presented. This work could assist researchers in biosciences with suggestions to specific gene expression mapping © 2017 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd

Abiotic stress of seagrasses: Recent advances in transcriptomics, genomics, and systems biology

Seagrasses are a unique taxonomic rank of Plantae, totally submerged to marine environment. They evolved from terrestrial plants so this progression provoked alterations in genome, providing adaptation abilities to aquatic environment. The development of high-throughput technologies, such as omics, bridges the gap between genome and phenotype, shedding some light on molecular mechanisms that regulate seagrass tolerance to abiotic stress. © Springer International Publishing AG 2017

Morphology and Genetic Structure Profile of Farmed Snails Cornu aspersum aspersum and Cornu aspersum maximum in Greece

The subspecies of the species Cornu aspersum, C. a. aspersum, and C. a. maximum are the dominant farmed species in Greece. The morphological and molecular polymorphism of the two aforementioned subspecies has not been studied in depth. In this study, the polymorphism of snails of the two subspecies derived from seven snail farms throughout Greece was studied using morphological and molecular markers. Firstly, the snail samples of both subspecies were categorized in three shell patterns based on shell color and existence of bands. The conducted population structure analysis revealed three major clusters among the farmed snail populations. As concerns genetic diversity, six loci (Ha5, Ha6, Ha8, Ha9, Ha10, and Ha11) were tested for their polymorphism. Genetic variation was reported within populations rather than among populations. Finally, the obtained data highlighted a common gene pool broodstock for snail farms throughout Greece. © 2022 by the authors