Project description:A new bycatch reduction device, termed "Excluder", is presented as an alternative to a traditional rigid sorting grid, mandatory in the small-meshed Norway Pout (Trisopterus esmarkii) trawl fishery in the North Sea. The fishery is a high-volume fishery with large vessels, large demersal trawls and catches up to 100 tons per haul of this small forage fish. The Excluder is a 30 m long netting-based sorting system, developed to reduce bycatch (70 mm square meshes) and improving on board gear-handling and safety. The Excluder was tested against a 5.8 m2 standard sorting grid (35 mm bar spacing) in a twin-trawl experiment from the commercial 70 m trawler "S364 Rockall". Catch data were analysed by species and length using the catch comparison method. For all bycatch species analysed, the Excluder had significantly lower catches relative to the grid: herring (21%), whiting (6%), mackerel (5%), American plaice (70%), witch flounder (15%), and lesser silver smelt (71%). For Norway Pout there was a significant increase in the overall catch efficiency of 32%. These results are explained by a 10 cm smaller L50 (the length of fish with 50% probability of being rejected by the sorting system) of the Excluder and a 15 times larger sorting area, which reduces the risk of clogging and loss of function. With these documented effects of improved sorting and target species catch efficiency, implementation of the Excluder would improve sustainability and address two main barriers of the current Norway pout fishery that limit quota capitalization; a tendency for Norway pout to mix with herring and whiting and lowered catch rates from grid-clogging. Additionally, gear-handling and safety on board would be improved.
Project description:Some pouting caught off the Atlantic coast of Portugal are discarded as unmarketable due to a dark discolouration of the skin and muscle. This study investigates the cause of this condition, describes the new parasite species responsible, and highlights the importance of educating those in charge of premarket inspection of food fish in order to reduce likelihood that consumers will eat infected fish. Macroscopically, infected fish showed considerable heterogeneity in darkening of the skin and hypaxial and epaxial muscles. Microscopical observation revealed bipolar nematode eggs in varying stages of development arranged in a linear pattern along muscle fibers. Histopathology confirmed the presence of eggs of a nematode of the genus Huffmanela Moravec, 1987 as the cause of muscle darkening and established a relationship between infection intensity and consequent darkened appearance of the tissues. The eggs are oval or barrel-shaped, with a smooth surface and polar plugs at opposite ends. The thin outer vitelline membrane is smooth and lacks ornamentation. Under light microscopy, the main eggshell of older eggs exhibits the outermost delicate and smooth vitelline membrane, and a thicker layer, correspondent to chitinous and chondroitin proteoglycan layers. Scanning electron microscopy of eggs confirmed light microscopic studies, namely the presence of a smooth vitelline membrane surrounding the egg. Microscopic and ultrastructural characteristics of eggs, and a new host family in a new geographic area, all suggest that a new species, herein named Huffmanela lusitana sp. n. is involved.
Project description:modENCODE_submission_5986 This submission comes from a modENCODE project of Jason Lieb. For full list of modENCODE projects, see http://www.genome.gov/26524648 Project Goal: The focus of our analysis will be elements that specify nucleosome positioning and occupancy, control domains of gene expression, induce repression of the X chromosome, guide mitotic segregation and genome duplication, govern homolog pairing and recombination during meiosis, and organize chromosome positioning within the nucleus. Our 126 strategically selected targets include RNA polymerase II isoforms, dosage-compensation proteins, centromere components, homolog-pairing facilitators, recombination markers, and nuclear-envelope constituents. We will integrate information generated with existing knowledge on the biology of the targets and perform ChIP-seq analysis on mutant and RNAi extracts lacking selected target proteins. For data usage terms and conditions, please refer to http://www.genome.gov/27528022 and http://www.genome.gov/Pages/Research/ENCODE/ENCODEDataReleasePolicyFinal2008.pdf EXPERIMENT TYPE: CHIP-seq. BIOLOGICAL SOURCE: Strain: N2; Developmental Stage: L3 Larva; Genotype: wild type; Sex: mixed Male and Hermaphrodite population; EXPERIMENTAL FACTORS: Developmental Stage L3 Larva; temp (temperature) 20 degree celsius; Strain N2; Antibody NURF-1 SDQ3525 (target is NURF-1)
Project description:Trithorax group (TrxG) proteins counteract Polycomb silencing by an as yet uncharacterized mechanism. A well-known member of the TrxG is the histone methyltransferase Absent, Small, or Homeotic discs 1 (ASH1). In Drosophila ASH1 is needed for the maintenance of Hox gene expression throughout development, which is tightly coupled to preservation of cell identity. In order to understand the molecular function of ASH1 in this process, we performed affinity purification of tandem-tagged ASH1 followed by mass spectrometry (AP-MS) and identified FSH, another member of the TrxG as interaction partner. Here we provide genome-wide chromatin maps of both proteins based on ChIP-seq. Our Dataset comprises of 4 ChIP-seq samples using chromatin from S2 cells which was immunoprecipitated, using antibodies against Ash1, FSH-L and FSH-SL.