Project description:The swamp eel or rice field eel (Monopterus albus) taxonomically belongs to the family Synbranchidae of the order Synbranchiformes (Neoteleostei, Teleostei, Vertebrata). It is not only an economically important freshwater fish in aquacultural production, but also an increasingly known model species for biological studies. Understanding molecular mechanisms underlying sex change is a major area of interest. The swamp eel thus offers a powerful system for studying sexual development and adaptive evolution in vertebrates.The whole genome sequencing provides valuable resources for sex control in fish production, species protection through manipulating sex reversal genes, and potentially enabling effective population control and promoting reproduction health in human.
Project description:The swamp eel or rice field eel (Monopterus albus) taxonomically belongs to the family Synbranchidae of the order Synbranchiformes (Neoteleostei, Teleostei, Vertebrata). It is not only an economically important freshwater fish in aquacultural production, but also an increasingly known model species for biological studies. Understanding molecular mechanisms underlying sex change is a major area of interest. The swamp eel thus offers a powerful system for studying sexual development and adaptive evolution in vertebrates.The whole genome sequencing provides valuable resources for sex control in fish production, species protection through manipulating sex reversal genes, and potentially enabling effective population control and promoting reproduction health in human. High throughput sequencing was employed for three samples,three kind s of sex gonad from swamp eel, testis,ovotestis and ovary, no replicates.
Project description:Background and study aims
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most commoncancers among humans worldwide. Recent studies demonstrated that the composition of the bacterial community in the human gut, as well as inflammation occurring in the gut, are some of the factors that modify the risk of an individual to develop CRC. The human gut is home to more than 1000 bacterial species, including health-promoting species and disease-causing species.
The consumption of rice bran, a by-product of rice milling, was previously shown to positively modify bacterial composition in the gut among healthy adults. The protective effect of a long-term rice bran consumption against CRC among individuals known to have higher risk of CRC, such as older individuals who are regular smokers and having a family history of CRC, needs to be established.
This study aims to investigate whether the implementation of a 24-week dietary programme involving rice bran consumption among adults at high risk of CRC is feasible, and whether it has any effect in inducing a health-promoting modification of the bacterial community, as well as a reduction of inflammation, in the gut of these individuals.
Who can participate?
Chinese adults of either gender, who are aged 50 or above and are categorised to be in the high risk CRC group by the Asian-Pacific Colorectal Screening tool, in which classification is based on age, smoking status and family history of CRC.
What does the study involve?
After the recruited subjects were screened for eligibility of study participation and written informed consent had been obtained from them, they were randomly assigned into either Group A or Group B. Participants in Group A were given packets of rice bran and were asked to consume 30 grams of the rice bran at 24-hour intervals for 24 weeks. Participants in Group B were given packets of rice powder that has similar appearance and colour as the rice bran, and were asked to consume 30 grams of the rice powder, also at 24-hour intervals for 24 weeks. All participants were asked to provide a stool sample and blood sample at various time points during the study, namely just before rice bran consumption, as well as 6 weeks, 12 weeks and 24 weeks after the start of rice bran consumption. Laboratory tests were conducted on these samples. All participants were also instructed to complete a log book, detailing the date and time of rice bran or rice powder intake each day, and the amount consumed. The participants also completed a faecal diary where they documented the frequency of egestion, and the shape and amount of stool egested each day, as well as the occurrence of any abdominal discomfort or pain.
Project description:The goal of this study was to gain a better understanding of the genetic background of gonadal maturation of the European eel and to use gene expression profiles to identify predictive markers for broodstock selection that can be measured in blood samples. To find leads for maturation markers we performed a pilot deep-sequencing transcriptome analysis of ovarian tissue derived from a yellow eel, a prepubertal silver eel and a post-spawning matured eel. Among the best leads were two key players in steroidogenesis, namely pP450c17 and liver receptor homolog-1.
Project description:Vibriosis caused by Vibrio vulnificus on eels represents an important threat for this specie under culture conditions. Development of new transcriptomic tools is essential to increase the knowledge of eel biology, that nowadays is scarcer. Therefore, using previous results obtained by 454 sequencing of the eel immune-enriched transcriptome, an eel-specific custom microarray have been designed. Gills transcriptomic pattern were analyzed as a principal portal of entry for pathogens in fish after 1h of bath infection with Vibrio vulnificus to describe gill immune response. Moreover, two different strains were used, vibro vulnificus wild type (R99) and rtx double mutant (CT285), to asses the virulence of these pathogen caused by MARTX.
Project description:The goal of this study was to gain a better understanding of the genetic background of gonadal maturation of the European eel and to use gene expression profiles to identify predictive markers for broodstock selection that can be measured in blood samples. To find leads for maturation markers we performed a pilot deep-sequencing transcriptome analysis of ovarian tissue derived from a yellow eel, a prepubertal silver eel and a post-spawning matured eel. Among the best leads were two key players in steroidogenesis, namely pP450c17 and liver receptor homolog-1. Pilot deep-sequencing transcriptome analysis of ovary from a yellow, a prepubertal silver and a post-spawning matured eel
Project description:Vibriosis caused by Vibrio vulnificus on eels represents an important threat for this specie under culture conditions. Development of new transcriptomic tools is essential to increase the knowledge of eel biology, that nowadays is scarcer. Therefore, using previous results obtained by 454 sequencing of the eel immune-enriched transcriptome, an eel-specific custom microarray have been designed. Gills transcriptomic pattern were analyzed as a principal portal of entry for pathogens in fish after 1h of bath infection with Vibrio vulnificus to describe gill immune response. Moreover, two different strains were used, vibro vulnificus wild type (R99) and rtx double mutant (CT285), to asses the virulence of these pathogen caused by MARTX. Adult european eels were bath infected with two Vibrio vulnificus strains, the wild type and double Rtx mutant (CT285). After 0, 3, 12h post-infection eel gills were sampled. Three individuals per experimental point were sampled, including a Control group and a Handling control group. Obtaining a total of 24 samples. The transcriptomic profile was described for each individual sample.
Project description:An European eel-specific microarray platform was developed to identify genes involved in response to pollutants A comparative analysis of gene expression was conducted between European eel Anguilla anguilla individuals from high (Tiber river, Italy) and low pollution (Bolsena lake, Italy) environments. Gene expression profiling was performed using an European eel-specific oligo-DNA microarray of 14,913 probes based on single-colour detection (Cyanine-3 only). Microarrays were scanned with Agilent scanner G2565BA (barcode on the left, DNA on the back surface, scanned through the glass) at a resolution of 5 microns; all slides were scanned twice at two different sensitivity settings (XDRHi 100% and XDRLo 10%); the scanner software created a unique ID for each pair of XDR scans and saved it to both scan image files. Feature Extraction (FE) 9.5 used XDR ID to link the pairs of scans together automatically when extracting data. The signal left after all the FE processing steps have been completed is ProcessedSignal that contains the Multiplicatively Detrended, Background-Subtracted Signal.