Molecular evidence for stress, inflammation and structural changes in non-specific ulcers in skin of farmed Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha).

Fish skin is critical to physical defence against pathogens and there is a need to understand the physiological processes impacting ulcers and their healing. Ulcers have been reported in farmed Chinook salmon in New Zealand. This study investigated stress, immune and structural gene expression in farmed Chinook salmon skin with and without ulcers from two sites in New Zealand sampled from February (higher temperature, late summer) to May (lower temperature, late autumn).

Transcriptomic characterisation of a common skin lesion in farmed chinook salmon.

Little is known about host responses of farmed Chinook salmon with skin lesions, despite the lesions being associated with increased water temperatures and elevated mortality rates. To address this shortfall, a transcriptomic approach was used to characterise the molecular landscape of spot lesions, the most commonly reported lesion type in New Zealand Chinook salmon, versus healthy appearing skin in fish with and without spot lesions. Many biological (gene ontology) pathways were enriched in lesion adjacent tissue, relative to control skin tissue, including proteolysis, fin regeneration, calcium ion binding, mitochondrial transport, actin cytoskeleton organisation, epithelium development, and tissue development.

The genetic origin of evolidine, the first cyclopeptide discovered in plants, and related orbitides.

Cyclic peptides are reported to have antibacterial, antifungal, and other bioactivities. Orbitides are a class of cyclic peptides that are small, head-to-tail cyclized, composed of proteinogenic amino acids and lack disulfide bonds; they are also known in several genera of the plant family Rutaceae. is the Australian rain forest tree of the Rutaceae family in which evolidine, the first plant cyclic peptide, was discovered.