Gene Expression Profiling and Fish Welfare
Weirup, L. et al. “Gene expression profiling supports the welfare evaluation of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) reared under different environmental and management conditions in six commercial flow through systems.” Aquaculture (2022)
Objective: gain deeper insight into stress and immune response influenced by different rearing conditions
Utilization of Standard BioTools™ products: • Biomark™ HD system
• IFC Controller MX
• 48.48 Dynamic Arrays™ IFCsConclusions: • Stocking density and total water exchange has large impact on gene expression and welfare of fish
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TROUT CASE STUDY
Objective: The objective of this study was to measure gene expression levels of Hemocyte immune response genes when exposed to White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV) and Fusarium solani (fungal) in order to understand the molecular mechanisms driving shrimp-pathogen interactions to develop strategies to control disease outbreaks in shrimp production systems with L. vannamei. Utilization of Standard BioTools products: Biomark SystemNanoFlex 4-IFC Controller96.96 dynamic arraysReal-Time PCR Analysis Software Conclusions: Genes that were monitored showed up regulation and down regulation over the time course study. Results reported can serve as immunomarkers for mortality events and could help reduce the loss in shrimp production systems
Largest differences in fish welfare observed between Farm 3 and Farm 4 (reference) as evidenced by differentially expressed genes.
Significant differences were found in gene expression
data between farms, which complement the findings on:
• Histology
• Glucose and lactate concentrations
• Organ somatic indices
• External damage
• Water quality
• Environmental and management conditions
Results and conclusions
Methods
Many environmental and management conditions including:
• Water supply, exchange, temperature, oxygen, pH, bacterial load • Minerals (ammonium, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate)
• Behavior and external morphological damage
Gene expression:
• Blood samples
• Three HK genes + 91 target genes selected based on prior studies
• IFC controller MX and Biomark HD
Farms selected:
• Using flow-through systems
• Characteristic differences in rearing conditions
• 10 fish per farm
Background
Species-appropriate treatment of fish is important for welfare of fish in farms.
Welfare measured by stressors in this study:
• Impact health, reproduction, and mortality
• Elicit specific phenotypic responses and transcript level responses
• Distinct transcriptional signatures exist for challenging conditions and stress