Project description:Catfish farming remains number one among U.S. aquaculture production. Flavobacterium columnare, the causative agent of columnaris disease, produces substantial mortality during the production of freshwater farmed finfish species. F. columnare is ubiquitous in the aquatic environment, and outbreaks of disease are often triggered during the spring and summer months of the catfish production cycle. As food fish production continues to increase, the frequency of columnaris disease will only continue to rise within the aquaculture industry and thus new preventative measures will be required. Vaccination against different fish pathogens has proven to be an effective disease management practice within the aquaculture industry. To evaluate the immunological effect of bath immunization on catfish with a recombinant F. columnare DNAk protein vaccine, we performed RNA sequencing on skin samples from control and rDNAK immunized catfish at different time intervals. We evaluated the different gene expression patterns between the groups with a focus on identifying differences in innate and adaptive immune function.
Project description:Mandarin fish (Siniperca chuatsi) has become one of the most commercially important freshwater aquaculture species in China because of its fast growth and high nutritional value. Here, the proteome of the spleen of pathogenetic and resistant mandarin fish on the 8th day after ISKNV infection were analyzed using Illumina NovaSeq 6000 and isobaric tag for relative and absolute quantitation. The spleen tissue of the control group (C), resistant group (K), and pathogenetic group (B) were collected at 8 dpc.
Project description:Domestication of finfishes is a key element toward sustainable expansion of aquaculture sector. However, huge gap in knowledge on the mechanisms of adaptability of fish to the culture environment, being the first step toward successful domestication, exists. This affects the overall production capacity which is hindered, among others, by lowered reproductive capacity of domesticated stocks, including pikeperch – a highly valued commercial freshwater fish species. Transcriptomic profiling of embryos was found to be useful tool significantly contributing into understanding domestication process in aquaculture. Up to now there is no data on transcriptomic profiling of unfertilized eggs in any fish species as well as on pikeperch, in general. Using next generation sequencing the first complex transcriptome of pikeperch have been obtained (with 40,246 unique protein-coding genes). Next, specifically designed, pikeperch-specific microarrays (Agilent technologies) were developed (with 35,343 unique probes) and transcriptomic profiling of eggs coming from wild and domesticated populations (all characterized by high quality) was performed. From among 17,543 genes found to be expressed in eggs of pikeperch 710 were found to be differentially expressed. Functional, enrichment analysis revealed that the most enriched processes represented by the set of genes identified were developmental process, regulation of phosphorylation and nervous system development. The results of the present study provides a new insight into the processes being directly involved in the successful domestication of finfishes. It can be suggested that all the identified processes were pre-determined by the maternally derived set of genes contained already in the unfertilized eggs, what has never been reported to date. In addition to that, it has been shown for the first time that among the most important processes being affected by the domestication the post translation modifications of proteins along with development of the nervous system were identified. This allows to suggest that fish behavior should be considered as a very important trait for selection for aquaculture purposes in pikeperch.
Project description:The effect of different diets (i.e. fish oil based vs vegetable oil based) on liver transcription profiles over the life history stages (freshwater and marine phases) of cultured Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) were explored. Two groups of fish were raised from first feeding on different lipid containing diets; a) the standard 100% fish oil based diet, the other enriched with a blend of vegetable oils (75%) + fish oil (25%). Liver samples were taken from fish at four time points: two freshwater phase (as parr 36 weeks post hatch (wph); as pre-smolts, 52 wph) and two marine phase ( as post-smolts 55 wph; and as adult fish , 86 wph). A total of 96 cDNA microarray hybridisations - TRAITS / SGP Atlantic salmon 17k feature cDNA microarray - were performed ( 2 diets x 4 time points x 6 biological replicates x 2 -dye swap) using a comon pooled reference contol design.
Project description:Integrated analysis of transcriptomics and metabolomics in Blunt Snout Bream. With the improvement of living standards, people’s demand for food nutrient is getting higher and higher. Fish is one kind of protein-rich food and is increasingly favored by consumers. It has been well recognized that flesh composition of fish is closely related to its maturation and growth stages, but few researches have explored these differences. Besides, hormone residues in fish after artificial inducing reproduction also attract consumers’ concern. In this study, we try to address these concerns by using a combination of transcriptomics and metabolomics analysis to identify the key pathways, genes, and metabolites regulation which may affect flesh nutrition of one typical aquaculture species in China, blunt snout bream (Megalobrama amblycephala).
Project description:N-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3LC-PUFA) are essential components of vertebrate membrane lipids and are now at critically low levels in modern Western diets. The main human dietary source for n-3LC-PUFA is fish and seafood, and over 50% of global fish production is currently supplied by aquaculture. However, increasing pressure to include vegetable oils, which are devoid of n-3LC-PUFA, in aquaculture feeds reduces their content in farmed fish flesh. The aim of this investigation was to infer mechanisms determining flesh n-3LC-PUFA content in Atlantic salmon. The TRAITS / SGP Atlantic salmon 17k feature cDNA microarray (ArrayExpress accession: A-MEXP-1790) was used to compare hepatic mRNA expression in 8 families, reared under common conditions, which exhibited contrasting high and low flesh n-3LC-PUFA levels at harvest. The microarray interrogations incorporated a common pooled reference design, comprising a total of 16 hybridisations (8 families x 2 - dye swap). Each family sample comprised RNA pooled from six sibs.
Project description:Alkalinity stress is considered to be one of the major stressors for fish in saline-alkali water. Thus, it is of great significance from both aquaculture and physiological viewpoint to understand the molecular genetic response of aquatic organisms to alkalinity stress. The objective of this study is to determine genome-wide gene expression profiles to better understand the physiology response of medaka (Oryzias latipes) to high carbonate alkalinity stress. In lab-based cultures, adult fish were exposed to freshwater and high carbonate alkalinity water .We designed a microarray containing 26429 oligonucleotides and describe our experimental results for measuring gene expression changes in the gill of carbonate alkalinity stress exposed fish. The fish were exposed to freshwater (FW) and high carbonate alkalinity water (AW) for 96h, each with three replicates.
Project description:Tissue protection from oxidative stress by antioxidants is of vital importance for cellular metabolism. The lens mostly consists of fiber cells lacking nuclei and organelles, having minimal metabolic activity; therefore, the defense of the lens tissue from the oxidative stress strongly relies on metabolites. Protein-free extracts from lenses and gills of freshwater fish, Sander lucioperca and Rutilus rutilus lacustris, were subjected to analysis using high-field 1H NMR spectroscopy and HPLC with optical and high-resolution mass spectrometric detection. It was found that the eye lenses of freshwater fish contain high concentrations of ovothiol A (OSH), i.e., one of the most powerful antioxidants exciting in nature. OSH was identified and quantified in millimolar concentrations. The concentration of OSH in the lens and gills depends on the fish genus and on the season. A possible mechanism of the reactive oxygen species deactivation in fish lenses is discussed. This work is the first to report on the presence of OSH in vertebrates. The presence of ovothiol in the fish tissue implies that it may be a significantly more common antioxidant in freshwater and marine animals than was previously thought.