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RESEARCH - Research Summary
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| Title: | Production of Atlantic Salmon with an Efficient Immune System, and the Identification of Molecular Markers Associated with this Trait |
Research Summary
Infectious disease is an important constraint in aquaculture. An ideal approach would be to vaccine against all diseases, but this is unrealistic and there are no commercial vaccines against parasitic and fungal diseases and only a limited number of vaccines against viral and bacterial diseases. A more practical and achievable approach against infectious organisms is to breed fish whose immune (defence) system responds earlier to an infection. This early response will reduce the ‘pathogen load’ in the fish, and this will be reflected in a less severe disease and hence fewer deaths (i.e. a more resistant fish). Also, these fish would respond better to available vaccines, a definite benefit to the aquaculture industry.
In the previous AquaNet Project (AP 19), the researchers had identified families of Atlantic salmon whose immune system responded very early after an infection and hence had lower ‘pathogen load’. These fish were ‘more’ resistant to disease. This project is an extension of the research and aims to breed this trait(s) into fish, and confirm that these are more resistant to a virus (Infectious salmon anaemia virus) and a parasite (Cryptobia salmositica) because of a more efficient immune system. The project will also determine some biological variables that are related to stress and health in the more resistant fish. The previous project identified that ‘markers’ are inherited and related to disease resistance in fish. Once these ‘markers’ are confirmed, through the current research, it will be much less costly(in time and money to detect fish families that have ‘efficient’ immune system for fish production and/or for breeding purposes.
Network Investigators
Roy G. Danzmann, Dept. of Zoology, Univ. of Guelph, Guelph, ON
Moira M. Ferguson, Dept. of Zoology, Univ. of Guelph, Guelph, ON
Brian D. Glebe, DFO and Huntsman Marine Science Centre, St. Andrews, NB
Don Rainnie, Centre for Aquatic Health Sciences, AVC, UPEI, Charlottetown, PE
George K. Iwama, NRC-IMB, National Research Council, Halifax, NS
