The Persian Gulf, a semi-enclosed sea in the subtropical northwest of the Indian Ocean, is noted for its unique biodiversity under its extreme ecological conditions. Despite high biodiversity levels, many groups of marine invertebrates in this area have remained uninvestigated. The order Zoantharia (zoanthids) is one of these taxonomically neglected groups. In this study, diversity of shallow water zoanthids off the Qeshm Island, the largest island in the Persian Gulf, was investigated for the first time. Using in situ field examination integrated with 16S rDNA sequencing and phylogenetic analysis, the presence of three zoanthid species in the inter-tidal and shallow water zone of Qeshm Island were demonstrated: Zoanthus sansibaricus (n = 12) with five morphotypes, Palythoa cf. mutuki (n = 10) with two morphotypes and Palythoa tuberculosa (n = 4) with just one morphotype. In addition to species identification, molecular examination determined phylogenetic relationships of specimens with other previously reported zoanthid species. While Zoanthus sansibaricus and Palythoa tuberculosa are two known zoanthid species, based on molecular data, Palythoa cf. mutuki is potentially a novel undescribed species. However, due to lack of data on zoanthid research and distribution for the entire Persian Gulf, further investigation is needed to clearly ascertain this matter.
Ocean warming is increasing the incidence, scale, and severity of global-scale coral bleaching and mortality, culminating in the third global coral bleaching event that occurred during record marine heatwaves of 2014-2017. While local effects of these events have been widely reported, the global implications remain unknown. Analysis of 15,066 reef surveys during 2014-2017 revealed that 80% of surveyed reefs experienced significant coral bleaching and 35% experienced significant coral mortality. The global extent of significant coral bleaching and mortality was assessed by extrapolating results from reef surveys using comprehensive remote-sensing data of regional heat stress. This model predicted that 51% of the world’s coral reefs suffered significant bleaching and 15% significant mortality, surpassing damage from any prior global bleaching event. These observations demonstrate that global warming’s widespread damage to coral reefs is accelerating and underscores the threat anthropogenic climate change poses for the irreversible transformation of these essential ecosystems.
Narrow-barred Spanish mackerel, Scomberomorus commerson, is an epipelagic and migratory species of family Scombridae which have a significant role in terms of ecology and fishery. 100 samples were collected from the Persian Gulf, Oman Sea and Arabian Sea. Part of their dorsal fins was snipped and transferred to micro-tubes containing ethanol; then, DNAs were extracted and HRM-Real Time PCR was performed to designate representative specimens for sequencing. Phylogenetic relationships of S. commerson from Persian Gulf, Oman Sea and Arabian Sea were investigated using sequence data of mitochondrial DNA D-loop region. None clustered Neighbor Joining tree indicated the proximity amid S. commerson in four sites. As numbers demonstrated in sequence analyses of mitochondrial DNA D-Loop region a sublimely high degree of genetic similarity among S. commerson from the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea were perceived, thereafter, having one stock structure of S. commerson in four regions were proved, and this approximation can be merely justified by their migration process along the coasts of Oman Sea and Persian Gulf. Therefore, the assessment of distribution patterns of 20 haplotypes in the constructed phylogenetic tree using mtDNA D-Loop sequences ascertained that no significant clustering according to the sampling sites was concluded.
Background and Purpose:
This study subjected a rat model to the extracts of muscle and shell tissues from
Protonus segnis to assess their therapeutic effects on the HT-29 colon cancer cells as well as on colonic Aberrant Crypt Foci
(ACF) induced by Azoxymethane (AOM).
Methods:
The cell line was exposed to the extracts to compare cytotoxicity of hexane, butanol, ethyl acetate, and water extract of muscle and ethanolic extract of shell. Male rats (n=40) were assigned into control, positive, negative, and treatment
groups. The animals were injected with AOM, except the control group, and then exposed to 250 and 500mg/kg of the crud
extracts. Immunohistochemical localization of Bax and Bcl-2 as well as ACF and antioxidant enzymes were evaluated in the
rat colon.
Results:
Results: The butanolic muscle extract and ethanolic shell one demonstrated an IC50 of 9.02±0.19µg/ml and
20.23±0.27µg/ml towards the cell line, respectively. Dietary exposure inhibited ACF formation and crypt multiplicity in colon compared to cancer control group. The activity of SOD and CAT increased, while that of MDA decreased. The expression of Bax and Bcl-2 increased and decreased, respectively.
Conclusion:
Taken together, our results show that both extractions were suggested to be suppressive to AOM-induced colon cancer.
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