The Xishi abalone (Haliotis gigantea) is an economically significant aquaculture species in southern China. We identified a novel orange‐muscle mutation present in less than 2% of the cultured population. High‐performance liquid chromatography and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry identified zeaxanthin and β‐carotene as the two main pigments present in the orange‐muscle abalone. The concentrations of zeaxanthin and β‐carotene detected in the orange‐muscle abalones were significantly higher than those detected in the common abalones (p < 0.01). Notably, the concentration of zeaxanthin was approximately 16.5 times higher in orange‐muscle abalones than in common abalones, which was also the species with highest carotenoid content reported in shellfish to date. Furthermore, the contents of total amino acids and essential amino acids in the orange‐muscle abalone were higher than that in the common abalone, though not significantly, while the content of non‐essential amino acids was significantly higher in the orange‐muscle abalone than that in the common abalone (p < 0.05). The saturated fatty acid content in the orange‐muscle abalones was slightly lower than that in the common abalones, and the unsaturated fatty acid content was higher in the orange‐muscle abalones than that in the common abalones. These results could provide a basis for characterizing the mechanism by which carotenoids accumulate in abalones and further guide the breeding of abalone with orange‐muscle mutants in the future.
Aquatic animals cannot synthesize carotenoids, thus they must come from diet or from symbionts. Previous studies have found that orange-muscle abalones are rich in carotenoids, but the effects of different diets on the accumulation of carotenoids are unknown. In this study, the effects of macroalgae (Gracilaria lemaneiformis), fresh and dried kelp (Laminaria japonica) on the contents of the predominant carotenoids, including zeaxanthin, β-carotene, and fucoxanthin, between the common and orange-muscle mutant of Haliotis gigantea were compared through a one-year culture experiment. Our study confirmed that carotenoids in abalones mainly come from diets, and the carotenoid types in the muscles were similar to their diets. We also found that feeding on G.lemaneiformis played an important role in maintaining a stable carotenoid content over time, especially zeaxanthin in H.gigantea. Our data also provided that abalones had a good growth performance under the feeding conditions of G.lemaneiformis. Finally, compared with common abalones, orange-muscle abalones had a notably enhanced ability to accumulate carotenoids through their diet, especially zeaxanthin ( P < 0.01 ). However, the growth performance of orange-muscle abalones was lower than those of common abalones fed the same diets. These results inferred that the content of carotenoid in abalone may be controlled by genetic factors, and diet had a significant influence on the accumulation of carotenoid in abalone to some extent.
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