Copepods play a vital role in aquatic food webs and are a key live feed for the larval stages of aquatic organisms. This study investigates the cultivation of the cyclopoid copepod Apocyclops royi AMBT201601 using the microalgae Tetraselmis suecica, and compares the effects of fresh and concentrated microalgae diets. The concentrated microalgae were high-density microalgae that had been filtered and stored at 5°C. Copepods were cultured in 1-L glass bottles under controlled laboratory conditions with continuous illumination and temperature control. The results showed no significant differences (p>0.05) in the maximum total density of copepod (nauplii and adult) between the fresh and concentrated microalgae, with average densities of 42,000 ± 5,393 and 49,333 ± 7,910 individuals/L, respectively. The cultivation scale was then expanded to 50 L under indoor conditions with ambient temperature. It was found that maximum copepod densities remained comparable (p>0.05) between treatments, averaging 18,133 ± 6,047 and 14,067 ± 2,757 individuals/L for fresh and concentrated microalgae, respectively. Fatty acid analysis showed no significant differences (p>0.05) in composition between copepods fed with fresh and concentrated T. suecica. The polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) 18:3n3 represented 3.19–3.64% of total fatty acids, with essential PUFAs such as 22:6n3, 20:5n3, and 20:4n6 also detected. The results indicate that A. royi AMBT201601 can be successfully cultured with concentrated T. suecica while maintaining density and nutritional quality. This method provides a viable approach for producing copepods as live feed for juvenile fish and shrimp, ensuring the availability of essential PUFAs necessary for their growth and development.

This research study aimed to apply acclimated chitosan for inorganic nitrogen removal in the recirculating aquaculture system (RAS). The chitosan flakes were acclimated under conditions with the presence of ammonia and nitrite at a salinity of 15-20 ppt to activate the nitrification activity. Ammonia oxidation was rapidly initiated after one week of acclimation, while nitrite oxidation required ten weeks to complete. The indices of total ammonia nitrogen (TAN) and nitrite removal rates were 0.09±0.03 and 0.05±0.0 mg-N/g-chitosan/day, respectively. The abundance of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) amoA gene was relatively constant (8.41 to 15.14 copies/g-chitosan), while nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB) nrxB gene increased to 2.30 × 10 4 copies/g-chitosan. Acclimated chitosan was subsequently installed as a biofilter unit in the RAS for Penaeus vannamei cultivation, operated for two months under a zero-discharge scheme. The control tanks with non-acclimated chitosan showed elevated concentrations of ammonia (0.9 ± 0.3 mg-N/L) and nitrite (4.4 ± 0.8 mg-N/L) during the first month of shrimp cultivation. In contrast, the acclimated chitosan effectively controlled ammonia (0.2 ± 0.1 mg-N/L) and nitrite (0.2 ± 0.2 mg-N/L) concentrations within acceptable limits throughout the cultivation period, resulting in significantly higher shrimp productivity in terms of weight and specific growth rate (SGR).

The molt-inhibiting hormone gene of the mud crab Scylla olivacea (ScoMIH) was successfully cloned and characterized, encoding a 113-amino-acid precursor with a 78-amino-acid mature peptide. Similar to other Brachyuran crabs, ScoMIH is exclusively expressed in the eyestalk ganglia (ES) with slightly higher expression levels during the intermolt stage. To produce a biologically active recombinant ScoMIH, a fusion construct incorporating thioredoxin (Trx) and a His₆ tag was designed, yielding a soluble 27 kDa protein. Functional assays demonstrated that Trx-ScoMIH effectively suppressed the expression of cytochrome P450 monooxygenases in activated Y-organs, leading to reduced ecdysteroid secretion. Furthermore, in vivo administration of Trx-ScoMIH delayed and prolonged the molting process, mimicking the natural molt cycle observed in intact crabs. This study reports the successful production of a soluble, biologically active recombinant ScoMIH, providing a valuable tool for investigating MIH signaling.

Genes exhibiting differential expression patterns between large-sized (average body weight 17.57 +/- 1.8 g and 40.97 +/- 4.0 g for 3- and 5-month-old juveniles in a total of 342 and 356 samples, respectively) and small-sized (average body weight 10.01 +/- 0.76 g and 22.86 +/- 2.51 g, respectively) juvenile giant tiger shrimps (Penaeus monodon) were isolated by complementary DNA-amplified fragment length polymorphism (cDNA-AFLP). In total, 368 primer combinations were screened against the first-strand cDNA of the different groups of 3- and 5-month-old P. monodon. Over 146 differentially expressed or size-specific markers were derived using 59 selective primer combinations. A total of 70 candidate cDNA-AFLP markers-19 size-specific and 51 showing differential expression-were further cloned, sequenced, and blasted against the GenBank database. Twenty-five markers were found to comprise newly identified sequences (E-values >10(-4)). Quantitative real-time PCR and Single-strand conformational polymorphism (SSCP) analyses of the products generated with the SCAR/cDNA-AFLP primers were further undertaken. Interestingly, the relative expression levels of the products of primers E(+3)4M(+3)14-550-PDI, E(+3)5M(+3)10-350-Unk, E(+2)9/M(+2)11-350-CHK, E(+3)4/M(+3)1-380-phosphotysosyl, and E(+3)8/M(+3)15-800-fucosidase were significantly upregulated in the hepatopancreas of large-sized juvenile shrimp compared with that is small-sized animals. In contrast, the relative expression levels of the products generated by E(+3)1M(+3)8-480-InositolOxy and E(+2)9/M(+2)11-330-vitelline membrane were significantly upregulated in small-sized P. monodon. The consistency of our results was further assessed in 1-month-old aquaculture-raised P. monodon. Single nucleotide polymorphisms were identified using SSCP at different positions in the sequences of fragments of the different groups generated with the primers E(+3)4M(+3)14-550-PDI and E(+3)5M(+3)10-350-Unk. Our results indicated that cDNA-AFLP has the potential for use in the isolation of functionally important transcripts in P. monodon.

Harpiosquilla raphidea, the largest of the mantis shrimps, is a commercially important crustacean species widely distributed in many countries of the Pacific Ocean. However, no data are currently available regarding the molecular mechanisms that regulate reproduction in this species. To address this knowledge gap, we performed transcriptome sequencing (RNA-Seq) of previtellogenic and vitellogenic ovaries of female H. raphidea, and compared the expression patterns of transcripts from the two resulting libraries to identify genes involved in ovarian development. A total of 418,635,748 clean reads were retrieved after removing adapter sequences and filtering out low-quality data. The reads were assembled into 242,861 unigenes with an average length of 585.27 base pairs (bp) and an N50 of 829 bp. A search of all unigenes against the NR (non-redundant protein), SwissProt, KEGG, GO, and COG databases yielded 53,111; 25,460; 27,255; 26,793; and 3838 unigene matches, respectively). Of the 53,111 unigenes identified in the NR database, 30,441 could be functionally annotated, 59.49% of which were significantly matched with the transcripts of L. vannamei. A total of 13,867 full-length transcripts and 11,441 partial transcripts were retrieved. In addition, using all-unigenes as a reference, a total of 12,765 simple sequence repeats (SSRs) were identified. DESeq2 analysis identified a total of 962 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between previtellogenic and vitellogenic ovaries, 456 of which were upregulated and 506 downregulated. Five unigenes were validated by quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR). The results of both the RNA-Seq and qPCR analysis revealed that the H. raphidea vitellogenin gene (HrVtg) was upregulated in vitellogenic ovaries. The open reading frame of HrVtg was found to be 7455 bp long, corresponding to a polypeptide of 2485 amino acids. The important functional genes and pathways identified here provide a valuable dataset for understanding the molecular mechanisms controlling ovarian development in H. raphidea.

Copepods, including Apocyclops royi, are small aquatic crustaceans and one of the important foods for fish and shellfish larvae. However, studies of the host-pathogen interactions and understanding of infectious disease in copepods are still very limited, yet they are likely to be a significant factor in the sustainable development of copepod aquaculture. In the present study, we performed de novo RNA sequence analysis of A. royi-TH (a Thai isolate of A. royi), which yielded 4.80 Gb bases of clean data and a total of 29,786 unigenes. Annotation was then performed by comparison against seven functional databases, yielding 17,617 (NR: 59.15%), 2,969 (NT: 9.97%), 15,023 (SwissProt: 50.44%), 14,543 (KOG: 48.82%), 15,077 (KEGG: 50.62%), 6,763(GO: 22.71%), and 15,841 (InterPro: 53.18%) unigenes. In comparison to the components of the shrimp Toll pathway, LGBP, Spätzle, Toll receptors, MyD88, Pelle, TRAF6, Dorsal, and Cactus homologs were successfully identified in A. royi-TH. Additionally, a novel antimicrobial peptide (Theromacin-like) was characterized in A. royi (ArTM-like). The ArTM-like ORF was 279 bp and predicted to encode for 92 amino acid residues, with a mature peptide of 75 amino acids and a molecular mass of 8.56 kDa. The genomic organization of the ArTM-like gene consisted of three exons and two introns. Expression analysis indicated that ArTM-like mRNA was abundantly expressed in copepodid and adult stages as an immune responsive gene after infection with the pathogenic Vibrio parahaemolyticus-(AHPND)-causing strain. Altogether, the knowledge obtained in this study will provide a basis for future functional studies of the molecular mechanisms in copepod immunity that may eventually be applied for disease prevention in copepod aquaculture.

Copepod Apocyclops royi can biosynthesize long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFAs) when fed lowPUFA precursors. Previously, two elongases and two desaturases in the n-3 PUFA biosynthetic pathway were identified from A. royi. However, the complete PUFA biosynthesis pathway in this copepod species is poorly understood. Here, we report 13 genes, of which nine are novel genes, encoding PUFA biosynthesis-related enzymes belonging to the fatty acid desaturases (ArD6D, ArD5D, ArD4D, ArO3D-1, and ArO3D-2) and elongases (Elovl1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8) families identified from a Thai culture of A. royi (A. royi-TH). Identification of the fatty acid contents using gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy analysis indicated that the copepodid and adult stages were high in PUFAs, with omega-3 fatty acids, while the nauplius stage had the lowest level of PUFAs. Moreover, all copepod stages of A. royi-TH fed Tetraselmis suecica contained higher levels of LC-PUFAs, including docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), than the microalgae fatty acid content, which was deficient in omega-3 DHA. Changes in transcript expression levels were determined in three developmental stages of A. royi-TH. Interestingly, the increased gene expression of the fatty acid desaturases (ArD6D, ArD5D, ArD4D, ArO3D-1, and ArO3D-2) and elongases (ArElovl3, 4, 5, 6, and 7) in the adult stages was reflected in the increased fatty acid concentration of DHA and EPA in the adult stages compared with the other developmental stages, suggesting the possible function of these genes for LC-PUFA synthesis in the different copepod developmental stages. These results indicate that the nauplius, copepodid, and adult stages are capable of synthesizing DHA from low PUFA through a LC-PUFA biosynthesis pathway.

Disease suppression is an essential aspect of shrimp farming. To control water quality, a recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) is employed in worldwide. In RAS, water quality is achieved by nitrification biofilter treatment, whereas disease prevention is achieved by the application of an oxidizing agent such as ozone (O-3). This study investigates the proper residual ozone concentration (ROC) dosage for controlling pathogenic bacteria Vibrio parahaemolyticus (VP) and minimizing mal-effects on nitrifying bacteria activity in the biofilter media inside an RAS. Juvenile Pacific white shrimp, Litopenaeus vammanei, were cultured for 4 months in a lab-scale brackish RAS integrated with ozonation. Results showed that although the system biofilter's nitrification activity was influenced by ROC, the 0.3 mg L-1 ROC dosage provided an optimum condition which effectively eliminated VP in the biofilter but did not inhibit ammonia removal. At a higher ROC (approximately 0.4 mg L-1) ozonation dosage, the biofilter's ammonia oxidation rate significantly reduced. Over a 40-day shrimp-rearing operational period, the viable VP count in an aerated (non-ozonated RAS) gradually increased, but the viable VP counts in both biofilm and water in a 0.3 mg L-1 ROC treated RAS significantly reduced down to undetectable levels. As such, the conclusion was drawn that a 0.3 mg L-1 ROC ozonation treatment in the biofilter tank of a RAS can effectively control VP pathogens without influencing the activity of the nitrification biofilter, thus providing a balanced control between water quality and safety to the shrimp.

Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens) is one of the most widely cultivated ornamental fish in global trade. However, transcriptomic data, which can reveal valuable genetic data for disease control and prevention, are extremely limited for this species. In this study, whole-body transcriptome sequencing of juvenile betta fish generated 4.457 GB of clean data and a total of 71,775 unigenes using the Illumina HiSeq4000 platform. These unigenes were functionally classified using 7 functional databases, yielding 45,316 NR (63.14%), 47,287 NT (65.88%), 39,105 Swiss-Prot (54.48%), 16,492 COG (22.98%), 37,694 KEGG (52.52%), 4,506 GO (6.28%), and 35,374 Interpro (49.28%) annotated unigenes. Furthermore, we also detected 13,834 SSRs distributed on 10,636 unigenes and 49,589 predicted CDSs. Based on KEGG analysis, five innate immune pathways (997 unigenes) were reported, including the NOD-like receptor signaling pathway, complement and coagulation cascades, toll-like receptor signaling pathway, RIG-I-like receptor signaling pathway and cytosolic DNA-sensing pathway. Moreover, four antimicrobial peptide (AMP) families (hepcidin, piscidin, LEAP-2, and defensins) from the betta fish transcriptome were also identified. Additionally, cDNA and genomic DNA of two β-defensins was successfully isolated from four betta fish species. RT-PCR analysis showed that BsBD1 transcripts were most abundant in the muscle and kidney and BsBD2 transcripts were most abundant in the gill. The genomic organization showed that the BD1 and BD2 genes consisted of three exons and two introns according to the GT-AG rule. Most importantly, this is the first report of the betta fish whole-body transcriptome obtained by high-throughput sequencing. Our transcriptomic data and the discovery of betta fish AMPs should promote a better understanding of molecular immunology for disease prevention for further ornamental fish aquaculture.

A key to successfully generate the penaeid shrimp cell line is to find out how primary cells died. The most suitable period to culture Penaeus monodon haemocytes was in the first 48 h of culture because cells had normal morphology, high percent of viable cells (65.29 +/- 5.43%), low percent of early (11.75 +/- 1.30%) and late apoptotic cells (15.47 +/- 11.71%) determined by Annexin V and TUNEL including constant IAP (0.06 +/- 0.01-0.07 +/- 0.01) and caspase-3 expression (0.30 +/- 0.06-0.39 +/- 0.10) by real-time PCR throughout the experiment. Moreover, adding 50 and 250 mu M of the cell permeable pan caspase inhibitor Z-VAD-FMK produced some melanised cells since the 48th hour, while percent of viable cells was decreased since the 24th hour with no difference in percent of early and late apoptotic cells compared to control at each time point. No difference of IAP and caspase-3 expression level in both Z-VAD-FMK groups was found compared to control and vehicle groups at each time point, excluding caspase-3 in 250 mu M Z-VAD-FMK at the 24th hour was higher than control and vehicle. Supplementing sodium fluoride (NaF) induced cell membrane damage and cellular shrinkage of primary haemocytes within 2 h. Even percent of viable cells was reduced down to zero and percent of late apoptotic cells was increased by 2 h of incubation in 25 and 50 mM NaF, IAP and caspase-3 in all NaF groups was not different from control. These results indicate that a number of primary haemocytes derived in this study die through the apoptotic process. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The full-length cDNA of X-box binding protein 1 (PmXbp1) in the giant tiger shrimp, Penaeus monodon was identified. It was 1762 bp in length containing an ORF of 855 bp corresponding to 284 amino acids. The expression level of PmXbp1 in different ovarian stages of wild intact broodstock was comparable but greater than that of cultured juveniles (P < 0.05). Eyestalk ablation resulted in up-regulation of PmXbp1 in stages III (late vitellogenic) and IV (mature) ovaries of wild P. monodon broodstock (P < 0.05). Exogenous serotonin injection (5-HT, 50 mu g/g body weight) potentially promoted the expression of PmXbp1 in ovaries of domesticated 18-month-old broodstock at 24 hpi (P < 0.05). In addition, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in PmXbp1 (185 bp) were examined in domesticated 3-month-old juveniles (average body weight and total length = 12.32 +/- 5.13 g and 11.30 +/- 1.58 cm, N = 162) by single-strand conformational polymorphism (SSCP) analysis. Association between SSCP patterns of PmXbp1 and growth-related parameters was found where the average body weight (15.07 +/- 5.04, N = 44) of juveniles carrying pattern A (corresponding to a T/T349 SNP) was significantly greater than that (11.37 +/- 4.80, N = 116) of juveniles carrying pattern B (corresponding to a T/C349 SNP). The relative expression levels of PmXbp1 in the hepatopancreas of juveniles carrying different SSCP/SNP genotypes were significantly different (A < B; P < 0.05). In addition, the level of PmXbp1 in shrimp exhibiting a greater growth performance (22.08 +/- 2.97 g and 13.60 +/- 0.56 cm; N = 11) was significantly lower than that with a lesser growth performance (5.00 +/- 0.89 g and 8.60 +/- 0.98 cm; N = 8) (P < 0.05). Taking the information together, PmXbp1 seems to play an important role in reproduction and growth of P. monodon.Statement of relevance: In aquaculture, the primary goal of genetic selection is the growth improvement of economically important species. Molecular markers that allow for selection of juveniles and broodstock with a high breeding value for reproductive maturation and/or growth rates are useful for the shrimp industry. Information on correlation between genotypic and phenotypic variations in penaeid shrimp is rather limited. Identification of molecular markers linked with growth/reproduction or those regulating the growth/reproduction mechanisms can be applied to improve artificial selection processes of P. monodon.To assess the possible biological roles of X-box binding protein 1 in reproduction and growth of P. monodon, the PmXbp1 cDNA sequence was characterized. Expression patterns of PmXbp1 during ovarian development in wild P. monodon broodstock were examined. Effects of eyestalk ablation (wild broodstock) and serotonin induction (domesticated broodstock) on expression levels of ovarian PmXbp1 were examined. In addition, analysis of relationships between SNP detected by SSCP and DNA sequencing and expression levels of PmXbp1, and growth traits in juvenile shrimp was examined. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The full-length cDNA and genomic organization of small androgen receptor-interacting protein 1 (SARIP1; also called RWD-containing protein 1, Rwdd1) in the giant tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon) was isolated and characterized. PmSARIP1 was 1366bp in length containing an open reading frame (ORF) of 738bp corresponding to a polypeptide of 245 amino acids. Its genomic sequence contained 5 exons, 4 introns and untranslated regions (UTRs) spanning 5937bp in length. Tissue distribution analysis indicated that PmSARIP1 was specifically expressed in gonads (ovaries>testes) but not in other tissues of wild P. monodon adults. The expression level of PmSARIP1 was not differentially expressed during ovarian maturation in intact wild adults (P>0.05). Eyestalk ablation resulted in up-regulation of PmSARIP1 throughout the ovarian maturation of wild adults where the peak level was observed at stage I (previtellogenic) ovaries (P<0.05). PmSARIP1 mRNA was clearly localized in ooplasm of previtellogenic oocytes. Serotonin injection (5-HT, 50μg/g body weight; 18-month-old shrimp) promoted the expression level of ovarian PmSARIP1 at 6–72h post injection (hpi) with the peak level at 12hpi (P<0.05). Exogenous progesterone administration (0.1μg/g BW; 14-month-old shrimp) did not significantly affect the expression level of ovarian PmSARIP1. In contrast, 17β-estradiol treatment (0.01μg/g BW) resulted in an increase of PmSARIP1 in 14-month-old shrimp at 7days post injection (dpi). Results from this study suggested that PmSARIP1 should play an important role during ovarian maturation of P. monodon.

Isolation and characterization of genes and/or proteins differentially expressed in ovaries are necessary for understanding ovarian development in the giant tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon). In this study, the full-length cDNA of P. monodon mitogen-activating protein kinase 1 (PmMAPK1) was characterized. PmMAPK1 was 1,398 bp in length containing an open reading frame of 1,098 bp that corresponded to a polypeptide of 365 amino acids. PmMAPK1 was more abundantly expressed in ovaries than in testes of P. monodon. Quantitative real-time PCR revealed differential expression levels of PmMAPK1 mRNA during ovarian development of intact broodstock, where it peaked in early cortical rod (stage III) ovaries (P < 0.05) and slightly decreased afterwards (P > 0.05). Likewise, the expression level of PmMAPK1 in early cortical rod and mature (IV) ovaries was significantly greater than that in previtellogenic (I) and vitellogenic (II) ovaries of eyestalk-ablated broodstock (P < 0.05). The PmMAPK1 transcript was localized in ooplasm of previtellogenic oocytes. In intact broodstock, the expression of the PmMAPK1 protein was clearly increased from previtellogenic ovaries in subsequent stages of ovarian development (P < 0.05). In contrast, the level of ovarian PmMAPK1 protein was comparable during oogenesis in eyestalk-ablated broodstock (P > 0.05). The PmMAPK1 protein was localized in ooplasm of previtellogenic and vitellogenic oocytes. It was also detected around the nuclear membrane of early cortical rod oocytes in both intact and eyestalk-ablated broodstock. Results indicated that PmMAPK1 gene products seem to play functional roles in the development and maturation of oocytes/ovaries in P. monodon.

In this study, the full length cDNA of adipose differentiation-related protein, a gene involved in neutral lipid accumulation that is important in oocyte maturation, of the giant tiger shrimp, Penaeus monodon (PmADRP) was identified and characterized. PmADRP was 1292bp in length containing an ORF of 1107bp corresponding to a polypeptide of 368 amino acids. PmADRP was abundantly expressed in ovaries but not in testes of P. monodon juveniles and broodstock or several tissues (e.g. intestine, eyestalk and gill) of P. monodon broodstock. The expression levels of PmADRP in ovaries of juvenile P. monodon were significantly induced following 5-HT administration at 48h post treatment (P<0.05). Quantitative real-time PCR illustrated that the PmADRP mRNA in ovaries of juveniles was lower than that of broodstock (P<0.05). In intact broodstock, PmADRP was significantly up-regulated at early cortical rod (stage III) ovaries and after spawning (P<0.05). Likewise, the expression level of PmADRP in early cortical rod and mature (IV) ovaries was significantly greater than that in previtellogenic (I) and vitellogenic (II) ovaries of eyestalk-ablated broodstock (P<0.05). In situ hybridization indicated that PmADRP was localized in ooplasm of previtellogenic oocytes. The PmADRP protein was detected since the vitellogenic stage for intact broodstock and since the previtellogenic stage for eyestalk-ablated broodstock. Results suggested functionally important roles of PmADRP on oocyte and ovarian development of P. monodon.

Isolation and characterization of genes involving gonadal development are an initial step towards understanding reproductive maturation and sex determination of the giant tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon). In the present study, 896 clones from the testis cDNA library were sequenced. A total of 606 ESTs (67.6%) significantly matched sequences in the GenBank (E-value <1e-04) whereas 290 ESTs (32.4%) were newly unidentified transcripts. The full length cDNA of genes functionally involved in testicular development including cyclophilin A (PMCYA), small ubiquitin-like modifier 1 (PMSUMO-1), ubiquitin conjugating enzyme E2, dynactin subunit 5, cell division cycle 2 (cdc2) and mitotic checkpoint BUB3 were discovered. In addition, Tra-2, a gene involving sex determination cascades, was successfully characterized by RACE-PCR and first reported in crustaceans. Expression analysis indicated that a homologue of low molecular weight neurofilament protein XNF-L (termed P. monodon testis-specific transcript 1, PMTST1; N=8 for each sex) was only expressed in testes but not ovaries. PMCYA, thyroid hormone receptor-associated protein complex 240 kDa component (Trap240), multiple inositol polyphosphate phosphatase 2 (MIPP2) and heat shock-related 70 kDa protein 2 (HSP70-2), but not PMSUMO-1, PMTra-2 and prohibitin2 were differentially expressed between ovaries and testes of P. monodon. Expression of PMTST1 was up-regulated but that of the remaining genes in testes of P. monodon broodstock was down-regulated after shrimp were molted (P<0.05). Significant reduction of PMSUMO-1 and increment of prohibitin2 transcripts in domesticated broodstock (P<0.05) suggested that these reproductively related genes may be used as biomarkers to evaluate reduced degrees of the reproductive maturation in domesticated P. monodon.