Biochemical changes in different tissues during yolk synthesis in marine prawn Penaeus indicus H.Milne Edwards

Abstract

Biochemical changes taking place in ovary, hepatopancreas, muscle and haemolymph of P. indicus during ovarian maturation have been studied and quantified. The trends in the fluctuation of metabolites indicate that in ovary there is considerable accumulation of protein, lipid, cholesterol and carotenoids but loss of moisture and nucleic acids. Translocation of these metabolites takes place from the chief synthetic and storage organ, hepatopancreas, via haemolymph. During the initial stages of yolk synthesis, ovary is autosynthetic as indicated by high RNA values and RNA/protein ratio. Subsequently the mode of yolk formation shifts to heterosynthesis mainly through the uptake of lipid from hepatopancreas. RNA/DNA ratio has been found to be useful as an index of ovarian growth.