Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

REALTIME EXPRESSION OF SHSPS AND ESTIMATION OF TREHALOSE AS A CYST QUALITY INDEX IN ARTEMIA

P.A. Vikas, P.C. Thomas, N.K. Sajeshkumar, Kajal Chakraborty, N.K. Sanil and K.K. Vijayan

Abstract

The physical and biological conditions of the ecosystem are in a dynamic state, and there is a nature-defined limit where the animals can live naturally. The ability of hypersaline marine invertebrates to withstand salt injuries in oceanic habitats suggests that their cells are equipped with biochemical and genetic mechanisms providing competitive advantages to stress factors. Artemia, universal live feed, is used as live feed for over 85% of marine aquaculture species. The study’s objective is to analyze the real-time expression of small heat shock protein (Hsp) 22 in the different developmental stages of Artemia and determine the differential expression of trehalose in the different cryptobiotic Artemia. To develop a biomarker to analyze the quality/hatching percentage of the Artemia cyst. The study revealed the sHSP22 expression in all developmental stages, and the animal is “being prepared for stress” resistance by expressing the sHSP22 for a lifetime. Trehalose, an alpha-linked disaccharide formed by an , -1, 1-glucoside bond between two -glucose units, also protects biological materials against dehydration and desiccation. Artemia cysts survive severe stress, such as long-term anoxia, salinity, and heat, all hallmarks of the Artemia environment due to its rigid chitinous cyst wall permeable and the disaccharide trehalose stabilizing proteins and membranes. Pearson correlation analysis revealed a positive correlation (0.781) between the hatching percentage and trehalose content (P<0.5). The result indicates the protective role of trehalose over the embryos leading to enhanced hatching. The trehalose content of the cyst could be a potential biomarker index to assess the hatching quality of the Artemia cyst. Artemia Cyst Quality Index (CQI) can be developed, which could be used as a unique standard for determining the quality of Artemia cysts.