Cryobanking of aquatic species

Cryobanking of human sperm.

The primary use of frozen semen has been for the treatment of male infertility, in which case a 'donor's' semen may be used for insemination independently of time and place. An increase in demand for semen by infertile couples, who represent about 30 per cent of all marriages in the United States, was a contributing factor to the rapid growth of commercial semen banking. Another factor was the ...

Sleep in Aquatic Species

Dicer Functions in Aquatic Species

Dicer is an RNase III enzyme with two catalytic subunits, which catalyzes the cleavage of double-stranded RNA to small interfering RNAs and micro-RNAs, which are mainly involved in invasive nucleic acid defense and endogenous genes regulation. Dicer is abundantly expressed in embryos, indicating the importance of the protein in early embryonic development. In addition, Dicer is thought to be in...

Conjugation of organic pollutants in aquatic species.

Aquatic organisms can take up organic pollutants from their environment and subsequently excrete the pollutant or its biotransformation products (metabolites). Phase II (conjugation) biotransformation products are almost always less toxic than the unmetabolized organic pollutant. For many organic pollutants, the extent to which conjugates are formed is extremely important in determining the rat...

Current Projects in Aquatic Nuisance Species

Although New York Sea Grant addresses a variety of aquatic nuisance species issues, of greatest concern are the effects of the zebra mussel on the state’s public and private infrastructure. Over the last decade, combating these exotics has cost the state at least $28 million, impacting electric power generation, drinking water facilities and residential water supplies, food processing, automoti...