No description available.

published_or_final_version / Zoology / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Zoology / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 90-100).

No description available.

published_or_final_version / Zoology / Master / Master of Philosophy

京都大学 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(地球環境学) / 甲第23351号 / 地環博第209号 / 新制||地環||40(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院地球環境学舎地球環境学専攻 / (主査)教授 德地 直子, 教授 柴田 昌三, 准教授 西川 完途 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Global Environmental Studies / Kyoto University / DGAM

Japanese eels (Anguilla japonicas) are snakelike fishes living in waters in the Asian region. In contrast to most fishes which are stenohalines that can only live in waters with a narrow range of salinity, Japanese eels are classified as euryhalines that can habitat in a broad range of salinity. As the lifecycle of Japanese eels consists of stages across fresh and seawater districts, a well-developed osmoregulation mechanism is needed to balance the intra- and extra- cellular osmolarity of the fishes throughout the seawater acclimation process. While fish gills are one of the organs that separating the ambient water and the inner body fluid of the fish, the fish gills of the Japanese eels have been studied as one of the most crucial organs for osmoregulation purposes. Yet, the osmoregulation and survival strategies of Japanese eels under hyperosmotic stress has not been fully elucidated. In chapter 2, this study has performed a transcriptome study on the ex vivo gill filament model of the Japanese eel to profile the molecular responses after a hypertonic treatment of 4 hours or 8 hours. The experiment is aimed to mimic the gill cells exposed to seawater in the seawater acclimation process of Japanese eels. A profile of differential expressed genes (DEGs) has been revealed that 577 DEGs were commonly upregulated and 711 DEGs were commonly downregulated in both 4- and 8-hours hypertonic treatment. Functional analysis and annotation have been processed with these DEGs, including Ingenuity Canonical Pathways analysis and gene ontology. These analyses have revealed that the cellular homeostasis of the gill cells has been disrupted and cell death responses has been induced by osmotic stress. The results have raises a concern that the maintenance of cellular viability and a cell death regulation mechanism are needed for the fishes to survive in the early stage of seawater acclimation. In chapter 3, this chapter demonstrated that gill cells in Japanese eels are susceptible to apoptosis when they are exposed to hyperosmotic treatments in both in vitro gill cell and the ex vivo gill filament model. To maintain the viability of the gills cells, two inhibitors of apoptosis, XIAP, and survivin, were seen to be expressed in gills cells. The expression of XIAP and survivin were upregulated by dexamethasone, which is an agonist mimicking the effect of cortisol on fishes in seawater acclimation. Meanwhile, the expression levels of the apoptosis executor, caspase 3, were downregulated. These data suggested that with the regulation of cortisol express in the fishes, XIAP and survivin are effective apoptosis regulators in the gill cells of Japanese eels. The study has demonstrated the molecular responses of the gills of Japanese eels exposed to hyperosmotic stress at the transcriptional level and post-translational level by using transcriptome studies and protein study respectively. The study has paved cell death regulation to be another the key field to study in understanding the ability of salinity tolerance in euryhalines.

Die Einschleppung gebietsfremder Parasiten durch den Menschen ist einer der Hauptgründe für das Auftreten neuer Krankheiten in the letzten Jahrzehnten. Neue Wirte sind oftmals anfälliger für diese invasiven Parasiten als die ursprünglichen Wirte. In schwerwiegenden Fällen können invasive Parasiten zu Massensterben und zum Aussterben ihrer neuen Wirte führen. Der ursprüngliche Wirt des Aalparasiten Anguillicola crassus ist der Japanische Aal. In den frühen 1980er Jahren wurde der Parasit in die Population des Europäischen Aals eingeschleppt. Er ist einer der Faktoren, die für den Populationsrückgang des Europäischen Aals verantwortlich sind. Die molekularen Prozesse, die zur stärkeren Anfälligkeit des Europäischen Aals im Vergleich zum Japanischen Aal führen, sind noch nicht zureichend bekannt. Die Analyse transkriptomweiter differenzieller Genexpression von Immungewebe ergab, dass im Europäischen Aal sowohl Immun- als auch Nichtimmungene differenziell exprimiert waren. Dies war im Japanischen Aal nicht der Fall und deutet darauf hin, dass der Europäische Aal eine ineffiziente und kostspielige Immunantwort auslöst. Die Resultate ensprechen jenen die schon in anderen Wirbeltierwirt-invasiven Parasiten-Systemen beobachtet wurden. Ausserdem stützen diese Resultate die Hypothese, dass neuen Wirten eine wirksame Immunantwort fehlt und sie deuten darauf hin, dass Nichtimmunprozesse wesentlich zur höheren Anfälligkeit von neuen Wirten beitragen. Als Reaktion of die negativen Fitnesseffekte können neue Wirte Abwehrmechanismen entwickeln. Im Europäischen Aal entspricht das der Einkapselung von A. crassus. Einkapselung führte zu eine niedrigere Abundanz adulter A. crassus. Dies deutet darauf hin, dass das Einkapseln sich positiv auf die Gesundheit infizierter Aale auswirkt. Jedoch war die Abundanz zweier nativer Parasiten höher in Aalen, die A. crassus einkapselten. Eine verbesserte Abwehr des eingeschleppten Parasiten könnte daher die Abwehr nativer Parasiten beeinträchtigen. / The human-mediated translocation of non-native parasites into foreign regions is one of the primary factors for the emergence of new diseases in recent decades. Novel hosts are often more susceptible to these invasive parasites than the native host. In severe cases, invasive parasites can lead to population declines and extinctions of their novel hosts. The eel parasite Anguillicola crassus is native to the Japanese eel. In the early 1980s it was introduced into the European eel population and is now considered to be one factor contributing to the population decline of its novel host. The underlying molecular processes determining higher susceptibility in the European eel compared to the Japanese eel are not well understood. Using whole-transcriptome differential gene expression analysis of immune organs, I found that genes involved in both immune and non-immune processes were differentially expressed in the European eel but not the Japanese eel, suggestive of an ineffective and costly immune response in the former. These results are in line with those observed between susceptible and resistant hosts in other vertebrate host-invasive parasite systems. Furthermore, the results support the hypothesis that novel hosts lack an effective immune response. The results also suggest that alteration of non-immune processes contributes substantially higher susceptibilities of novel hosts. In response to the negative fitness effects of invasive parasites, novel hosts can evolve coping mechanisms. The European eel has the capacity to encapsulate and kill A. crassus. Using natural infections, I found a lower abundance of adult A. crassus, the most costly parasitic stage in those eels encapsulating the parasite, suggesting that encapsulation can potentially improve health of infected eels. At the same time, the abundance of two native parasites was higher in those eels encapsulating A. crassus. Thus, coping with A. crassus may come at the expense of coping with native parasites.