Transcriptome analysis of <em>Litopenaeus vannamei</em> during the early stage of limb regeneration process

Regeneration is a process in which organisms regrow new tissues or organs at the injury site, which has attracted the attention of many scientists and nonscientists. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms of regeneration after autotomy are largely unknown. In this study, we conducted RNA-seq sequencing on regenerated limb bud tissues of *Litopenaeus vannamei* at 0 hours post autotomy (0 hpa), 12 hours post autotomy (12 hpa), and 24 hours post autotomy (24 hpa). A total of 2,192 differentially expressed genes related to energy metabolism, transcription and translation, and epidermis development were identified between 0 hpa and 12 hpa, such as triosephosphate isomerase A, triosephosphate isomerase B, and zinc finger protein 367 that is upregulated in 12 hpa. Between 12 hpa and 24 hpa, 1,447 differentially expressed genes were identified that were related to cuticle development and energy metabolism, such as cuticle protein 6, which is upregulated in 24 hpa, and triosephosphate isomerase is downregulated in 24 hpa. The results indicated that energy metabolism, transcription and translation, epidermal formation, and chitin metabolism processes are involved during the early stage of limb regeneration. This study provides basic knowledge for investigating the molecular mechanisms associated with limb regeneration in crustaceans at the early regeneration stage

Effects of Dietary Squid Soluble Fractions on Growth Performance and Feed Utilization in Juvenile Snakehead(Ophiocephalus argus) Fed Practical Diets

An 8-week growth trial was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary squid soluble fractions (SSF) supplementation on growth performance and feed utilization of juvenile snakehead (Ophiocephalus argus). A fish meal diet (diet 1) with 36% fish meal (FM) was formulated. This diet was used as a control. The second diet (diet 2) was formulated by replacing 22% of the fish meal protein with poultry by-product meal based on amino acid profile of whole body of this fish. The other three diets were supplemented with 0.4% (diet 3), 0.8% (diet 4) and 1.2% (diet 5) SSF, respectively. Diets 1(control) 2, 3, 4, and 5 were isonitrogenous and isolipidic. No significant differences were observed in survival, feed intake (FI), weight gain rate (WGR), feed efficiency rate (FER) and protein productive value (PPV) between fish fed diets 1 and 2 (P>0.05). Furthermore, compared with fish fed the diet without SSF (diet 2), fish fed diets with 0.8 and 1.2% SSF (diet 4 and 5) demonstrated significantly enhanced WGR, FER, and PPV. These results suggest that 0.8% of dietary SSF is optimal for juvenile snakehead growth enhancement

Effects of Soya Saponins on Feed Intake, Growth Performance, and Cholesterol Metabolism in Juvenile Turbot (Scophthalmus maximus L)

An 8-week feeding trial was conducted to investigate the effects of soya saponins on feed intake, growth performance, and cholesterol metabolism in juvenile turbot (Scophthalmus maximus L). A control diet and two experimental diets were prepared with the supplementation of soya saponins, concentrations being as follows: 0.0% (Diet 1, Control), 0.25% (Diet 2) and 0.5% (Diet 3), respectively. The results showed that 0.25% of dietary soya saponins produced comparable growth performance with the control diet. However, the growth performance of fish fed the diet with 0.5% soya saponins was significantly lower. The selected parameters measured in plasma, liver, and feces of each group were not significantly different. These results suggested that 0.25% dietary soya saponins did not produce negative effects, but but but but 0. 5% of dietary soya saponins significantly reduced fish growth. Dietary soya saponin supplementation to FM-based diet did not significantly affect cholesterol metabolism

Effects of Dietary Corn Gluten Meal on Growth Performance and Cholesterol Metabolism in Juvenile Snakehead (Ophiocephalus argus) Fed Practical Diets

An 8-week growth trial was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary corn gluten meal (CGM) levels on growth performance and cholesterol metabolism of juvenile snakehead (Ophiocephalus argus). Six isonitrogenous (crude protein 47%) and isolipidic (crude lipid 11.5%) practical diets were formulated by replacing 0 (D1, control), 6.2 (D2), 12.3 (D3), 18.5 (D4), 22.2 (D5), and 28.4% (D6) fish meal (FM) protein with CGM protein. No significant difference in survival rate was found among dietary treatments (P>0.05). No significant differences were observed in feed intake (FI), final body weight (FBW), weight gain rate (WGR), feed efficiency rate (FER) and protein productive value (PPV) among fish fed D1-D3 (P>0.05). However, these indices significantly decreased with increasing CGM protein from 18.5%(D4) to 28.4%(D6) of diet (P<0.05). Whole-body lipid content of fish fed D6 (28.4 %) was significantly lower than that of fish fed D1 (control) (P<0.05). The plasma and liver total cholesterol, free cholesterol, cholesterol esters, LDL-C, and HDL-C levels were affected by dietary CGM protein levels. Broken line analysis based on WGR or PPV indicated that the maximum CGM protein level for the optimal growth of juvenile snakehead was 12.06% or 12.56% respectively

Effects of Soya Saponins on Feed Intake, Growth Performance, and Cholesterol Metabolism in Juvenile Turbot (Scophthalmus maximus L)

Abstract An 8-week feeding trial was conducted to investigate the effects of soya saponins on feed intake, growth performance, and cholesterol metabolism in juvenile turbot (Scophthalmus maximus L). A control diet and two experimental diets were prepared with the supplementation of soya saponins, concentrations being as follows: 0.0% (Diet 1, Control), 0.25% (Diet 2) and 0.5% (Diet 3), respectively. The results showed that 0.25% of dietary soya saponins produced comparable growth performance with the control diet. However, the growth performance of fish fed the diet with 0.5% soya saponins was significantly lower. The selected parameters measured in plasma, liver, and feces of each group were not significantly different. These results suggested that 0.25% dietary soya saponins did not produce negative effects, but 0.5% of dietary soya saponins significantly reduced fish growth. Dietary soya saponin supplementation to FM-based diet did not significantly affect cholesterol metabolism. The IJA appears exclusively as a peer-reviewed on-line open-access journal at http://www.siamb.org.il/. To read papers free of charge, please register online at registration form. Sale of IJA papers is strictly forbidden. 2 Ai et al

Impacts of microdiet manufacturing technologies on the growth performance of large yellow croaker ( Pseudosciaena crocea ) larvae

Crumbled feed (CF) is the most commonly used microdiet in the weaning phrase of large yellow croaker ( Pseudosciaena crocea ) in China. However, CF can be inefficient for local hatcheries due to its low water stability. In this study, we evaluated a more water -stable microdiet (micro -extrusion marumerization diet or MM) in comparison to the CF, and ascertained their effects on the growth of larval croaker. Our results showed that the MM (ca. 98% dry weight retained) was much more water -stable than the CF (only 76% dry weight retained) after 5 min vigorous aeration. This was especially true for the preservation of lipid content, 40% of which was lost from the CF. The remaining intact structure and nearly unchanged nutritional composition of the MM enabled greater fish growth performance after a 24 -day feeding trail, with 37% more dry weight gained than CF -fed larvae. Additionally, fish body compositions of each treatment directly reflected the nutritional profiles of each diet after aeration, and CF -fed fish had a significantly lower lipid content than those fed the MM (8.97 vs. 15.2%). Our results suggest that MM is a more suitable microdiet for the weaning phrase of croaker in hatcheries with vigorous aeration

microRNA: The Impact on Cancer Stemness and Therapeutic Resistance

Cancer ranks as the second leading cause of death worldwide, causing a large social and economic burden. However, most anti-cancer treatments face the problems of tumor recurrence and metastasis. Therefore, finding an effective cure for cancer needs to be solved urgently. Recently, the discovery of cancer stem cells (CSCs) provides a new orientation for cancer research and therapy. CSCs share main characteristics with stem cells and are able to generate an entire tumor. Besides, CSCs usually escape from current anti-cancer therapies, which is partly responsible for tumor recurrence and poor prognosis. microRNAs (miRNAs) belong to small noncoding RNA and regulate gene post-transcriptional expression. The dysregulation of miRNAs leads to plenty of diseases, including cancer. The aberrant miRNA expression in CSCs enhances stemness maintenance. In this review, we summarize the role of miRNAs on CSCs in the eight most common cancers, hoping to bridge the research of miRNAs and CSCs with clinical applications. We found that miRNAs can act as tumor promoter or suppressor. The dysregulation of miRNAs enhances cell stemness and contributes to tumor metastasis and therapeutic resistance via the formation of feedback loops and constitutive activation of carcinogenic signaling pathways. More importantly, some miRNAs may be potential targets for diagnosis, prognosis, and cancer treatments

Identification of Anticancer Drug Candidate Targeting Nuclear Receptor Retinoid X receptor-alpha from Natural Products using Receptor-Ligand Recognition

Natural products (NP), especially medicinal plants, have been used worldwide to treat numerous diseases for thousands of years. However, drug discovery focus has been moving away from identifying lead compounds from complex mixtures of crude NP because this approach is technically difficult and inefficient. We here present a quick, accurate and practical method for screening leads targeting a nuclear receptor from NP mixtures. Using the method, we rapidly identified erythrotriol as a new lead compound from medicinal plant Hibiscus syriacus L. targeting RXR alpha for treating cancer with less side effects. This method can efficiently and profitably screen lead compounds targeting nuclear receptors and may reinvigorate interest in NP as sources of pharmaceutical agents

The draft genome of blunt snout bream (Megalobrama amblycephala) reveals the development of intermuscular bone and adaptation to herbivorous diet

The blunt snout bream Megalobrama amblycephala is the economically most important cyprinid fish species. As an herbivore, it can be grown by eco-friendly and resource-conserving aquaculture. However, the large number of intermuscular bones in the trunk musculature is adverse to fish meat processing and consumption. As a first towards optimizing this aquatic livestock, we present a 1.116-Gb draft genome of M. amblycephala, with 779.54 Mb anchored on 24 linkage groups. Integrating spatiotemporal transcriptome analyses, we show that intermuscular bone is formed in the more basal teleosts by intramembranous ossification and may be involved in muscle contractibility and coordinating cellular events. Comparative analysis revealed that olfactory receptor genes, especially of the beta type, underwent an extensive expansion in herbivorous cyprinids, whereas the gene for the umami receptor T1R1 was specifically lost in M. amblycephala. The composition of gut microflora, which contributes to the herbivorous adaptation of M. amblycephala, was found to be similar to that of other herbivores. As a valuable resource for the improvement of M. amblycephala livestock, the draft genome sequence offers new insights into the development of intermuscular bone and herbivorous adaptation