Effects of traditional Chinese medicines on immunity and culturable gut microflora to Oncorhynchus masou.

The present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of dietary traditional Chinese medicines on the growth, immunity, and composition of culturable gut microflora in Oncorhynchus masou. Diets were formulated to contain no medicine (control), antitoxic decoction (A), general antiphlogistic decoction (B), or Herbae Artemisiae Capillariae decoction (C). Fish were manually fed twice daily till apparent satiation for 30 days. Compared with that in the control group, supplementation with the three kinds of Chinese herbal medicine enhanced fish growth significantly (P < 0.05). The activities of liver superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase in the treatment groups were significantly higher compared with those in the control group (P < 0.05). The quantity of intestinal microflora was higher in the treatment groups compared with that in the control group. Moreover, there were some effects of dietary Chinese herbal medicine on the composition of intestinal microflora. Microflora of Pseudomonas sp., Psychrobacter sp., Microbacterium sp., Macrococcus sp., Burkholderia sp., and Arthrobacter sp. were found in the treatment groups, whereas there were none in the control group. There was a significant increase in their amounts in the treatment groups (P < 0.05). The three kinds of traditional Chinese medicines can improve the growth and immunity of Oncorhynchus masou and affect the quantity and composition of intestinal microflora.

Characterization of a myostatin gene (MSTN1) from spotted halibut (Verasper variegatus) and association between its promoter polymorphism and individual growth performance.

Myostatin (MSTN) is a member of the transforming growth factor-ß superfamily which could play an important role in negatively regulating skeletal muscle growth and development in mammal and non-mammal species. In the present study, a MSTN1 gene (designated as VvMSTN1) was cloned and characterized in one flatfish species, spotted halibut (Verasper variegatus). In the 3078 bp genomic sequence, three exons, two introns and a promoter sequence were identified. Sequence analysis of the promoter region revealed that it contained several cis-regulatory elements such as CAAT-box, TATA-box and E-boxes. The deduced protein sequence included a signal peptide, a TGF-ß propeptide in the N-terminal region and the TGF-ß active peptide in the C-terminal region. Phylogenetic analysis suggested that VvMSTN1 is an orthologue of teleost MSTN1 proteins which arose along with MSTN2 during a duplication event at the base of teleost evolution. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis revealed that VvMSTN1 mRNA was ubiquitously expressed in all nine tested tissues, with the most transcriptionally abundant in skeletal muscle. A primary assessment of sequence variability revealed five single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) existed in the promoter region, among which three (G-653T, T-355C and G-253A) were genotyped with an advanced melting temperature (T(m))-shift method and tested for their association with growth traits (body length, body depth and total mass). Results indicated that genotype CC of locus T-355C had significantly higher growth traits than genotype TC and TT (P<0.05) in female spotted halibut. These results suggest that V. variegatus MSTN could be selected as a candidate gene for the future molecular breeding of stains with enhanced individual growth performance.