When data mining was performed on the National Center for Biotechnology Information database, a total of 2038 sequences from five different expressed sequence tag libraries were registered. Eighty sequences (3.9%) were found to contain 91 microsatellites. Clustering analysis indicated that 23 sequences of these expressed sequence tags fell into five clusters and that the remaining 57 sequences were independent. The di-and tri-nucleotide repeat motifs accounted for approximately 62.1% of the total microsatellites. The most abundant dinucleotide microsatellite was TA, followed by GA and CA, and the trinucleotide microsatellites GAT and GGT showed a high abundance. Nineteen sequences representing di-, tri-, tetra-and penta-nucleotides motifs were chosen for the design of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primers. Of primer pairs, 16 successfully amplified scorable PCR products and 11 revealed polymorphism, with the average polymorphic information content value of 0.5082 and 3.1 alleles per locus. A transferability analysis on three other related scallop species, Chlamys farreri, Chlamys nobilis and Patinopecten yessoenssis, showed that only 1 of 16 primer pairs could amplify PCR products with the expected size in Chlamys nobilis.

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Background: Chondroitin sulphate proteoglycan (NG2) expressing cells, morphologically characterized by multi-branched processes and small cell bodies, are the 4 th commonest cell population of non-neuronal cell type in the central nervous system (CNS). They can interact with nodes of Ranvier, receive synaptic input, generate action potential and respond to some pathological stimuli, but the function of the cells is still unclear. We assumed the NG2 cells may play an active role in neuropathogenesis and aimed to determine if NG2 cells could sense and response to the alterations in the axonal contents caused by disruption of neurofilament light subunit (NFL) expression.

In order to establish a large-scale hatchery technique for the sea squirt Halocynthia ritteri, the in£uences of water temperature on spawning induction, larval development and survival of H. ritteri were studied under laboratory conditions. The larvae of H. ritteri exhibited high sensitivity to changes in temperature. As temperature increased from10 to 21 1C, the duration of larval stage was inversely related to temperature and the time to reach attached larvae stage decreased from 42.0 to 59.4 h. The biological minimum temperature for the early development of H. ritteri was estimated to be 0.22 1C. In relation to temperature, quadratic equations showed signi¢cant ¢ts to the data of spawning rate, fecundity, fertilization, larval survival and attachment. Optimal temperatures for spawning rate, fecundity, fertilization rate, larval survival rate and attachment rate were estimated to be 14.9, 14.7, 13.2, 14.1 and 14.7 1C respectively. It is concluded that the range of 13^15 1C is optimal for spawning and larval rearing of sea squirts. Aquaculture Research, 2009, 40, 513^518 In£uence of water temperature on sea squirt K H Kang et al.

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