Acute toxicity of Galium odoratum to the freshwater cladoceran Moina macrocopa

Galium odoratum (L.) is a medicinal plant with a number of health benefits, used in traditional and modern medicine. The toxicity of the coumarin in Galium odoratum is classified as high, however, no experimental data or data on toxic effects in humans following intake of Galium odoratum are available. The potential toxic effect can be estimated based on the content of coumarin and knowledge of its toxicity. The aim of the current study is to evaluate the acute toxicity effects of a range of concentrations of Galium odoratum water extract on Moina macrocopa and calculate the LC50 within 24 hours. In order to compare the toxicity with those of other, well-known and widely used medicinal plants, extracts of Matricaria chamomilla and Tribulus terrestris are also tested.  The results show that LC50 value of Galium odoratum is comparable with those of Matricaria chamomilla and Tribulus terrestris, and Galium odoratum has intermediate toxicity between the two other studied species. 

A Cost-effective DNA Isolation Strategy from Crustaceans Enables the First Molecular Phylogenetic Identification of Moina macrocopa from India

We report the first barcode identification of water flea species Moina macrocopa (strain JSK1) from the Indian subcontinent. The strain isolated from a freshwater pond near Mumbai by collective efforts of CUBE (Collaborative Undergraduate Biology Education), was morphologically characterized as Moina species. Keeping up with the growing demand of affordable science in colleges and to avoid hazardous technologies, we established a home grown porcelain-abrasion DNA extraction strategy for crustaceans, and compared it against routinely used protocols employing liquid nitrogen or insect-DNA isolation kits. Our method successfully yielded high quality genomic DNA from Moina, comparable to published protocols as further analysed by restriction digestion, ligation and PCR efficiency. We also sequenced two barcoding loci namely, COI and ITS sequences, duly submitted and curated by Genbank (accession numbers MH734122.1 and MH745035.1). Molecular phylogenetic analyses identified the Indian species as Moina macrocopa and related it closely to the Russian clade. Protein prediction analyses of the variations in COI revealed that the missense mutations lie in the aliphatic membrane helices and should not affect the catalytic capacity of cytochrome oxidase. The strain JSK1 is currently disseminated and maintained collectively by CUBE students across India, towards developing it as a model system.

OPTIMAL RATIO OF MALE AND SEXUAL FEMALE IN THE MATING OF MOINA MACROCOPA (CRUSTACEA, MONIDAE)

Moina macrocopa is a natural feed that can be cultured to producing ephippia as a bioproduct for fish and shrimp larvae feed. The number of males in the population affects the quality and quantity of ephippia produced. This study was conducted with the purpose of examining the female age in M. macrocopa mating and examining the ratio male-female M. macrocopa in the mating on the quantity and quality of ephippia produced. The treatment in this research was the ratio male-female sex of 1:30, 3:30, 5:30, 7: 30. 9:30., 12:30, 15: 30. Male and female sexual offspring M macrocopa were produced from cultured using a combination of induction factors such as density, feed concentration, kairomones and dissolved oxygen. male and female offspring produced were cultured with a density of 1000 ind/ L. This mating culture was using a container with a volume of water of 2 ml per individual. The results of this study were indicated that mating M. macrocopa using 70-hour old sexual females resulted in the highest ephippia production. Mating M. macrocopa with a sex ratio of 9:30 (male and female sexual) ware resulted in ephippia containing two eggs of 100%, with ephippia hatching degree of 35.4- 38.3%.

Production Performance of Moina macrocopa (Straus 1820) (Crustacea, Cladocera) Cultured in Different Salinities: The Effect on Growth, Survival, Reproduction, and Fatty Acid Composition of the Neonates

Salinity is a known factor in shaping population dynamics and community structure through direct and indirect effects on aquatic ecosystems. Salinity changes further influence food webs through competition and predation. The responses of Moina macrocopa (Cladocera) collected from Setiu Wetland lagoon (Terengganu) was evaluated through manipulative laboratory experiments to understand the ability of M. macrocopa to tolerate high salinity stress. Specifically, the fatty acid composition, growth, survival, and reproduction of this cladocerans species was examined. Sodium chloride (NaCl) as used in the treatments water with the concentration 0, 4, 6, 8, 12, and 15 salinity. Fatty acid levels were determined using Gas Chromatography and Mass Spectrophotometry (GC-MS). The results indicated that optimal conditions produced the highest fatty acid content, especially the polyunsaturated fatty acid content, such as EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid), ALA (alpha-linoleic acid), ARA (arachidonic acid), and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid). Furthermore, M. macrocopa survival was best at salinity 0, with a percentage of 98%, whereas the opposite occurred at salinity 15, with approximately 20% of viable animals surviving. Besides, M. macrocopa also showed the highest reproduction rate at salinity 0 (e.g., average initial age of reproduction, 4.33 ± 0.58 days) compared with other salinities level. Interestingly, the difference in growth at different salinities was not evident, an unusual finding when considering adverse effects such as osmoregulation pressure on the organism. Based on the results, we conclude that M. macrocopa can only tolerate salinity below salinity 8 and cannot withstand stressful environmental conditions associated with salinities above 8.