Dianchang Zhang

• Professor, PhD
• Deputy Director at South China Sea Fisheries Research Institute

The White-spotted spinefoot S. canaliculatus, is an economically important marine fish in South China and featured by possessing poisonous glands in its fin spines. However, the unavailability of the S. canaliculatus genome has been a serious obstacle to genetic breeding as well as basic researches such as uncovering genomic basis underlying its to...

Gut microbiota are essential in regulating host growth, development, and various pathophysiological processes, yet the exact mechanisms by which they operate remain largely unknown. T. ovatus is a key species in fishery trade, possessing a diverse gut microbiota, though the relationship between this microbial diversity and its growth is not well un...

Understanding the developmental sequence characteristics of the vertebral and appendicular skeletons of the larvae and juveniles of Larimichthys crocea (Naozhou population) can provide theoretical basis for seedling cultivation, environmental adaptation, and taxonomic identification. The cartilage‐bone double staining method was used to stain, obse...

Galectins exhibit a variety of biological functions through interactions with their ligands, including galactose and its derivatives. Tandem-repeat galectins, such as Galectin-8, can act as pattern recognition receptors to aggregate and neutralize bacterial pathogens. In this study, Galectin-8 was identified in Trachinotus ovatus (golden pompano)....

尖翅燕鱼 (Platax teira) 具有生长速度快、肉质鲜美、营养价值高等特点，其外形奇特，尤其幼鱼更为特殊，可作为观赏鱼，是南海发展网箱养殖的重要潜力鱼类之一。由于目前缺乏尖翅燕鱼的基因组信息，其多数功能基因未被挖掘，已成为制约其遗传育种的重要因素。运用三代测序技术和组装获得染色体水平的尖翅燕鱼高质量基因组图谱，通过基因组注释获得尖翅燕鱼基因组序列的基本生物学信息。结果显示，尖翅燕鱼基因组大小为697.98 Mb，Hi-C挂载至24条染色体，挂载率为99.26%，含重复序列177.79 Mb，占整个基因组的25.47%，注释到22 851个蛋白编码基因。系统进化分析显示尖翅燕鱼与波纹唇鱼 (Cheilinus undulatus) 亲缘关系最近，分化时间距今约82.89 Ma。正选择基...

Background/Objectives: Maintaining an optimum transport density is essential for protecting water quality, lowering stress levels, and increasing fish survival rates. Transporting marine fish fry involves major dangers. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of transport stress at varying densities on the immune-related gene expressio...

Seabream is one of most important candidates for aquaculture in China. However, in recent years, streptococcosis has posed a serious challenge. Galectin-8 has been proven to play an important role in the antibacterial immunity of teleost. In this study, Acanthopagrus latus Galectin-8 (AlGal-8) was characterized for the first time consisting of 8 ex...

Galectins (Gals) are a type of S-type lectin that are widespread and evolutionarily conserved among metazoans, and can act as pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) to recognize pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs). In this study, 10 Gals (ToGals) were identified in the Golden pompano (Trachinotus ovatus), and their conserved domains, motif...

Golden pompano is an important aquaculture product in the coastal regions of southern China, which is highly dependent on insulin-like growth factor (IGF) for various biological processes. The cDNAs of ToIGF1, ToIGF2, and ToIGF3 are 1718 bp, 1658 bp, and 2272 bp in length, respectively, with corresponding amino acid sequences of 185 aa, 215 aa, and...

Scarus forsteni, a whitespot parrotfish from the Scaridae family, is a herbivorous fish inhabiting coral reef ecosystems. The deterioration of coral reefs has highly affected the habitats of the parrotfish. The decline in genetic diversity of parrotfish emphasizes the critical importance of conserving their genetic variability to ensure the resilie...

To explore the morphological and phenotypic characteristics and differences among different populations of Larimichthys crocea , traditional morphological measurements were carried out on three wild populations from Zhoushan, Xiamen and Zhanjiang and two farmed populations from Ningde and Wenzhou. Seven morphological parameters of five L. crocea po...

In this study, we developed an optimized cryopreservation protocol for goldlined seabream sperm through five small experimental groups: Diluting the sperm with a mixed cryoprotectant (containing 10 g/L glucose and 10% DMSO in an RS extender) at a ratio of 1:3, followed by equilibration at 4 °C for 30 min. Subsequently, the samples were subjected to...

Myostatin (mstn), also known as GDF8, is a growth and differentiation factor of the transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) superfamily and plays a key inhibitory effect in the regulation of skeletal muscle development and growth in vertebrates. In the present study, to comprehend the role of the mstn2 gene of the yellowfin seabream Acanthopagrus latu...

Golden pompano ( Trachinotus ovatus ) is a marine fish of great commercial value. It was selected for a study on allometric growth using fermented soybean meal (SBM) as the primary protein source during an 8-week culture period. By comparing the gene expression levels of different individuals in the fermented soybean meal group, we discovered that...

Golden pompano, Trachinotus ovatus, as a highly nutritious commercially valuable marine fish, has become one of the preferred species for many fish farmers due to its rapid growth, wide adaptability, and ease of feeding and management. However, with the expansion of aquaculture scale, bacterial and parasitic diseases have also become major threats...

Simple Summary Temperature plays a crucial role in the growth and development of fish, particularly during the early stages. This study aimed to investigate the effects of different breeding temperatures (21, 24, 27, and 30 °C) on the growth and nutrient metabolism of Platax teira larvae using transcriptomic techniques. The analysis revealed differ...

Interferon regulatory factor 7 (IRF7) regulates type I interferon (IFN) genes via combining to the ISRE region in the immune response against bacteria. Streptococcus iniae is one of the dominant pathogenic bacteria of yellowfin seabream, Acanthopagrus latus. However, the regulatory mechanisms of A. latus IRF7 (AlIRF7) mediated by the type I IFN sig...

In recent years, biotechnology has had a significant impact on the aquaculture industry, particularly in the field of breeding. Molecular selection breeding has emerged as a novel approach to breeding. Reducing the cost of genetic information for individuals with desirable traits after breeding has become an important research direction. Cryopreser...

The inflammatory cytokines TNF-β and IFN-γ are important mediators of the vertebrate inflammatory response and coordinators of the immune system in regard to NF-κB signalling pathways. In this study, the TNF-β and IFN-γ genes of yellowfin seabream, Acanthopagrus latus were identified, and the multiple sequence alignments, evolutionary relationships...

To explore the external morphological differences of golden pompano in different geographical populations, eight quantitative traits of 210 samples from seven golden pompano populations were measured. Multivariate statistical methods, such as principal component analysis, discriminant analysis, cluster analysis, and One-way ANOVA, were used to comp...

Consideration of the thermal adaptation of species is essential in both evolutionary biology and climate‐change biology because it frequently leads to latitudinal gradients of various phenotypes among populations. The spotted sea bass (Lateolabrax maculatus) has a broad latitudinal distribution range along the marginal seas of the Northwest Pacific...

The MMPs are endogenous proteolytic enzymes that require zinc and calcium as cofactors. MMP9 is one of the most complex matrix metalloproteinases in the gelatinase family and has many biological functions. In mammals, mmp9 is thought to be closely associated with cancer. However, studies in fish have rarely been reported. In this study, to understa...

Background: Viruses play critical roles in the marine environment because of their interactions with an extremely broad range of potential hosts. Many studies of viruses in seawater have been published, but viruses that inhabit marine animals have been largely neglected. Oysters are keystone species in coastal ecosystems, yet as filter-feeding biva...

Golden pompano (Trachinotus ovatus) has become an economically important fish in China in the past decade. However, Cryptocaryon irritans, a parasitic ciliate, causes considerable economic losses in the mariculture of T. ovatus. To characterize the pathogenesis of C. irritans in T. ovatus, the pathological properties, immune-related enzyme activity...

The golden pompano (Trachinotus ovatus) is one of the most economically valuable marine fishes in South China. Streptococcus agalactiae, an infectious Gram-positive bacterium that is highly destructive for golden pompano culture, has recently caused massive losses to the golden pompano industry. This study aimed to investigate the dynamic immune re...

Background Viruses play critical roles in the marine environment because of their interactions with an extremely broad range of potential hosts. Many studies of viruses in seawater have been published, but viruses that inhabit marine animals have been largely neglected. Oysters are keystone species in coastal ecosystems, yet as filter-feeding bival...

Cheilinus undulatus is a valuable seawater economic fish with tender meat, fresh taste, and high nutritional value; however, its population is rapidly declining because of massive fishing and habitat destruction. Assessing changes in genetic diversity and inbreeding levels is a very valuable monitoring tool, and multiplex PCR has the advantages of...

Species markers can be quickly and accurately assessed using DNA barcoding. We investigated samples from the parrotfish family Scaridae using DNA barcoding in Hainan. A total of 401 DNA barcodes were analyzed, including 51 new barcodes generated from fresh material, based on a 533 bp fragment of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (CO I) gene. There...

As the precursor of taurine, cysteine serves physiological functions, such as anti-oxidative stress and immune improvement. Investigation of cysteine and its derivatives has made positive progress in avian and mammalian species, yet the study and application of cysteine in aquatic animals are relatively rare. Therefore, we evaluated the effects of...

Black porgy is an important marine aquaculture fish species whose production is at the fifth position in all kinds of marine-cultured fishes in China. In this study, Illumina high-throughput sequencing technology was used to sequence the total RNA of black porgy. Sixty-one candidate SNPs (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism) were screened out and genoty...

Lutjanus kasmira belongs to the family Lutjanidae. Over the past 20 years, the L. kasmira population in the South China Sea has been shrinking due to climate change, pressure from human activities, and inadequate food supplies. In this study, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data obtained from restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (RAD-seq...

Starvation is a common stress in fish that is caused by environmental changes, and refeeding after starvation is believed to cause compensatory growth. Here, we evaluated the impacts of starvation for 7 d, followed by refeeding for 7 d on growth, gut microbiome, biochemical indices, liver transcriptome, and immune response in golden pompanos (Trach...

Taurine has various biological functions in fish, playing an essential role in growth, resistance to oxidative stress, and intestine immunity. Here, we evaluated the effects of exogenous taurine added to low-fishmeal diets on the growth, anti-oxidative stress, intestine immunity, and Streptococcus agalactiae resistance in juvenile golden pompano (T...

Microplastic (MPs) pollution is a global marine environmental problem. The effects of MPs on the gut microbiota of aquatic organisms have received considerable attention. For example, microbes colonizing MPs in pond cultures alter the structure and function of the intestinal microbes of shrimp and fish. It was hypothesized that bacteria on MPs in n...

Streptococcus agalactiae is common pathogenic bacteria in aquaculture and can cause mass mortality after fish infection. This study aimed to investigate the effects of S. agalactiae infection on the immune and antioxidant regulatory mechanisms of golden pompano (Trachinotus ovatus). Serum and liver samples were obtained at 0, 6, 12, 24, 48, 96, and...

Tumour necrosis factor-α (TNFα) is a multifarious mediator of lymphoid tissue growth and antimicrobial defence mechanisms, and it acts as a pro-inflammatory regulator. The function of TNFα in parasite infection and the underlying mechanism through which nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) regulates TNFα remain largely unclear in teleosts. In the present stud...

Rac (Ras-related C3 botulinum toxin substrate), belonging to the Rho GTPase family, has various critical cellular functions. However, research on this topic in fish has rarely been reported. In the present study, to comprehend the expression patterns of the Rac1a, Rac1b, Rac2, and Rac3 genes and their association with antiparasitic traits in Trachi...

Lutjanus kasmira belongs to family Lutjanidae. Over the past 20 years, the L. kasmira population in the South China Sea has been shrinking due to climate change, pressure from human activities and inadequate food supplies. Moreover, the allometric factors of this species show interannual variation and seasonal fluctuations. The ratio of females to...

Lutjanus kasmira belongs to family Lutjanidae. Over the past 20 years, the L. kasmira population in the South China Sea has been shrinking due to climate change, pressure from human activities and inadequate food supplies. Moreover, the allometric factors of this species show interannual variation and seasonal fluctuations. The ratio of females to...

In this study, DNA barcoding was applied to identify the distinct species of fish products in Guangzhou supermarkets and sushi restaurants in order to confirm whether products were correctly labeled. Samples were analyzed using mitochondrial cytochrome C oxidase subunit I (CO I) gene as the target. Our results showed that the CO I gene of all 139 s...

The yellowfin seabream (Acanthopagrus latus Houttuyn 1782) is a commercially and ecologically important Sparidae species in the northern South China Sea. However, environmental pollution and overfishing result in serious decline of seabream natural population and germplasm degradation in recent years. In the present study, to promote the molecular-...

Background: Viruses play critical roles in the marine environment because of their interactions with an extremely broad range of potential hosts. Many studies of viruses in seawater have been published, but viruses that inhabit marine animals have been largely neglected. Oysters are keystone species in coastal ecosystems, but as filter-feeding biva...

The Akoya Pearl oyster Pinctada fucata is distributed over the coastal area of South China and is the most popular farming shellfish for seawater pearl production. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) could inhibit or kill pathogenic microorganisms. Theromacin has been proven to be an antimicrobial peptide, which plays an essential role in the body’s immu...

Golden pompano (Trachinotus ovatus) is one of the most economically critical marine fish in South China. Low oxygen stress has resulted in substantial economic losses to the aquaculture of T. ovatus. However, the molecular responses of fish gills to hypoxia challenge remain unclear. To understand the mechanism underlying adaption to hypoxia, we ana...

The golden pompano (Trachinotus ovatus) is a marine fish species in the family Carangidae. We constructed a chromosome-level genome assembly of a male golden pompano. QTL-mapping and GWAS analysis showed that this species has a ZZ/ZW sex determination system and a sex defining SNP (Chr16:18219150:G/A), located on the splice donor site (GT-AG) of th...

Background: Viruses are the most abundant biological entities, and they play critical roles in entire ecosystems. Nevertheless, current knowledge about them is no more than 1% of the estimated diversity of the Earth’s virosphere. Oysters are filter-feeding molluscan bivalves and are ideal sentinels for marine virus exploration and viral ecology stu...

This study uses the CASA system and enzyme activity kit to detect movement parameters and enzyme activities of fresh and cryopreserved yellowfin seabream (Acanthopagrus latus) sperm, which could provide theoretical support for the protection of the germplasm resources of yellowfin seabream and the sustainable and healthy development of its aquacult...

Heat shock protein 90 family, a class highly conserved protein and important molecular chaperone and its plays a role in enhancing animal adaptability to environmental stress and improving immunity. In this study, a full-length HSP90β cDNA (ToHSP90β) sequence was identified from Trachinotus ovatus. The cDNA of ToHSP90β was 2648 base-pairs (bp) long...

This study aimed to investigate the intoxication mechanism of golden pompano (Trachinotus ovatus) exposed to high ammonia levels and the effects on the immune and antioxidant mechanisms of gills. Juvenile golden pompano was exposed to ammonia (total ammonia: 26.9 mg/L) to induce 96 h of ammonia stress, and a 96 h recovery experiment was performed a...

‘Marine white spot disease’ is caused by Cryptocaryon irritans infection and can lead to high mortality in Trachinotus ovatus. L-Amino acid oxides (LAAOs) play a key role in antibacterial activity and parasitic activity. To investigate the function of the LAAO (ToLAAO) and LAAO-like (ToLAAO-like) genes of T. ovatus, this study explored the sequence...

Continuous exposure to high levels of ammonia can cause oxidative damage to fish tissues and organs. To date, the mechanism by which juvenile golden pompano (Trachinotus ovatus) are poisoned by ammonia exposure has not been thoroughly elucidated. although the mechanisms of ammonia toxicity are not well described for the pompano, many other studies...

The golden pompano, Trachinotus ovatus, is a promising species in the mariculture. However, the sex identification in alive individual is a bottleneck step in selective breeding. The golden pompano and the greater amberjack, Seriola dumerili, belong to the same family, Carangidae. The genome assembly of golden pompano has been released and the sex...

Golden pompano (Trachinotus ovatus) is one of the most economically critical marine fishes in South China. Low oxygen stress, which is caused by a variety of factors, has resulted in substantial economic losses to the aquaculture of golden pompano. Genome-wide association study (GWAS) has been widely used to study the genetic basis of important eco...

Golden pompano (Trachinotus ovatus) is a commercially important marine fish and is widely cultured in the coastal area of South China. We explored the distribution difference of intestinal microflora with the same growth condition and the difference of gut microflora with different growth rates fed with fermented soybean meal (FSM) and fish meal (F...

Toll-like receptors (TLRs)are pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) that are important in invertebrate innate immunity for the recognition and elimination of pathogens. Although they were reported in many fishes, Toll-like receptors subfamily contain a large number of members with different functions that need to research in deep. In the present stu...

The yellowfin seabream Acanthopagrus latus is the economically most important Sparidae fish in the northern South China Sea. As euryhaline fish, they are perfect model for investigating osmoregulatory mechanisms in teleosts. Moreover, the reproductive biology of hermaphrodites has long been intriguing; however, little information is known about the...

Temperature is an important climatic factor that shapes the distribution of eurythermal species. Thermal adaptation of species is important to both evolutionary biology and climate-change biology because it frequently leads to latitudinal gradients of various phenotypes among populations. Spotted sea bass ( Lateolabrax maculatus ) has a broad latit...

Taurine serves an important role in many species, including fish. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of varying dietary taurine levels on the growth, antioxidant capacity, and tissue deposition of taurine in golden pompano. In addition, the mechanism of taurine synthesis was studied via enzyme activity and gene expression of t...

The ontogeny of the digestive tract in Platax teira was studied by means of optical microscopy from hatching to 30 days post-hatching. Collect fertilized eggs from P. teira broodstock, fertilize the eggs to hatch in hatching net bags, and rear the larvae in higher-place ponds. Observe the morphology and structure of the digestive tract of larvae 1-...

The elongases of very long-chain fatty acids (Elovls) are involved in the rate-limiting of the carbon chain elongation reaction in fatty acid (FA) biosynthesis in vertebrates. One member of the Elovls family, Elovl4, has been regarded as a critical enzyme involved in the biosynthesis pathway of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). To explore the ro...

The whole mitochondrial genome of Lateolabrax maculatus (Cuvier, 1828) was used to investigate the reasons for the observed patterns of genetic differentiation among 12 populations in northern and southern China. The haplotype diversity and nucleotide diversity of L. maculatus were 0.998 and 0.00169, respectively. Pairwise F ST values between popul...

Toll-like receptors (TLRs), as important pattern recognition receptors, represent a significant component of fish immune systems and play an important role in resisting the invasion of pathogenic microorganisms. The TLR5 subfamily contains two types of TLR5, the membrane form of TLR5 (TLR5M) and the soluble form of TLR5 (TLR5S), whose detailed func...

Lined seahorse (Hippocampus erectus), an important economic and medicinal fish in China, exists widely in Atlantic Ocean. However, habitat destruction for its spawning and overfishing has led to profound decline the wild populations in recent years. Therefore, to improve the molecular-assisted selection (MAS) and resources conservation of H. erectu...

The yellowfin seabream Acanthopagrus latus is the economically most important Sparidae fish species in the northern South China Sea. As euryhaline fish, they are perfect model for investigating osmoregulatory mechanisms in teleosts. Moreover, the reproductive biology of hermaphrodites has long been intriguing; however, very little is known about th...