Project description:The present study aimed to identify the persistent molecular changes occurring in Atlantic Salmon salmon (Salmo salar) eggs after 24h exposure to high concentrations (5000 mg/L) of road salt at fertilization.
Project description:Norway is the largest producer and exporter of farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) worldwide. Skin disorders correlated with bacterial infections represent an important challenge for fish farmers due to the economic losses caused. Little is known about this topic, thus studying the skin-mucus of Salmo salar and its bacterial community depict a step forward in understanding fish welfare in aquaculture. In this study, we used label free quantitative mass spectrometry to investigate the skin-mucus proteins associated with both Atlantic salmon and bacteria. In addition, the microbial temporal proteome dynamics during 9 days of mucus incubation with sterilized seawater was investigated, in order to evaluate their capacity to utilize mucus components for growth in this environment.
Project description:We investigate the effect of a functional feed for immunostimulation (peptidoglycan extract from bacterial cell wall with nucleotide formulation) on L. salmonis infection levels on Atlantic salmon Salmo salar, and on host and parasite gene expression profiles. Atlantic salmon smolts (~95 g) were fed a control diet, or a low or high dose immunostimulant diet, and then exposed to L. salmonis copepodids in three subsequent exposures. The transcriptome of salmon lice late in the infection attached to either the low dose diet or control diet hosts were compared using a 38K oligonucleotide microarray.
Project description:The present study aimed to identify the persistent molecular changes occurring in Atlantic Salmon salmon (Salmo salar) eggs after 24h exposure to high concentrations (5000 mg/L) of road salt at fertilization. Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) eggs after fertilization were exposed to high concentrations (5000 mg/L) of road salt for 24 h and used for gene expression analysis.
Project description:Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) is an environmentally and economically important organism and its gene content is reasonably well characterized. From a transcriptional standpoint, it is important to characterize the normal changes in gene expression over the course of early development, from fertilization through to the parr stage.S. salar samples were taken at 17 time points from 2 to 89 days post fertilization. Total RNA was extracted and cRNA was synthesized and hybridized to a new 44K oligo salmonid microarray platform. Quantified results were subjected to preliminary data analysis and submitted to NCBI’s Gene Expression Omnibus. Throughout the entire period of development, several thousand genes were found to be differentially regulated. This work represents the trancriptional characterization of a very large geneset that will be extremely valuable in further examination of the transcriptional changes in Atlantic salmon during the first few months of development. The expression profiles can help to annotate salmon genes in addition to being used as references against any number of experimental variables that developing salmonids might be subjected to.
Project description:A common-garden experiment was carried out to compare two genetically distinct strains of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) fed diets formulated with either high (CHO) or low (NoCHO) carbohydrate (starch). Twenty salmon from either a commercial farmed strain or a land-locked population were placed in two tanks (10 fish of each population in each tank) and fed either CHO or NoCHO feeds for 32 days. At the end of the experimental period fish were fasted for 8 h, euthanized and samples of blood and liver collected. Both diet and population had an effect on circulating glucose levels with land-locked salmon showing hypoglycaemia and dietary starch increasing this parameter. In contrast, land-locked salmon showed increased plasma triacylglycerol levels regardless of dietary treatment. This enhanced ability to metabolise dietary starch in land-locked compared to farmed salmon stock was also reflected at a molecular (gene) level as most of the metabolic pathways evaluated in the present study were mainly affected by the factor population rather than by diet. In particular, lower expression of genes for mitochondrial metabolism in land-locked salmon reflects drastic differences in energy metabolism between the populations. The liver transcriptome analysis highlighted some new gene candidates such as elovl6 to evaluate in future studies assessing the capacity of salmonids to cope with feeds containing higher levels of dietary starch.
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:New de novo sources of omega 3 (n-3) long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA) are required as alternatives to fish oil in aquafeeds in order to maintain adequate levels of the beneficial fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic (EPA and DHA, respectively). The present study investigated the use of an EPA+DHA oil derived from a transgenic Camelina sativa in feeds for Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) containing low levels of fishmeal (35 %) and fish oil (10 %), reflecting current commercial formulations, to determine the impacts on intestinal transcriptome, tissue fatty acid profile and health of farmed salmon. Post-smolt Atlantic salmon were fed for 12-weeks with one of three experimental diets containing either a blend of fish oil/rapeseed oil (FO), wild-type camelina oil (WCO) or transgenic camelina oil (DCO) as added lipid source. The DCO diet did not affect any of the fish performance or health parameters studied. Analyses of the mid and hindgut transcriptomes showed only mild effects on metabolism. Flesh of fish fed the DCO diet accumulated almost double the amount of n-3 LC-PUFA than fish fed the FO or WCO diets, indicating that these oils from transgenic oilseeds offer the opportunity to increase the n-3 LC-PUFA in farmed fish to levels comparable to those found twelve years ago.
Project description:An effective and economical vaccine against the Piscirickettsia salmonis pathogen is needed for sustainable salmon farming and to reduce disease-related economic losses. Consequently, the aquaculture industry urgently needs to investigate efficient prophylactic measures. Three protein-based vaccine prototypes against Piscirickettsia salmonis were prepared from a highly pathogenic Chilean isolate. Only one vaccine effectively protected Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), in correlation with the induction of Piscirickettsia-specific IgM antibodies and a high induction of transcripts encoding pro-inflammatory cytokines (i.e. Il-1β and TNF-α). In addition, we studied the proteome fraction protein of P. salmonis strain Austral-005 using multidimensional protein identification technology. The analyzes identified 87 proteins of different subcellular origins, such as the cytoplasmic and membrane compartment, where many of them have virulence functions. The other two prototypes activated only the innate immune responses, but did not protect Salmo salar against Piscirickettsia salmonis. These results suggest that the knowledge of the formulation of vaccines based on P. salmonis proteins is useful as an effective therapy, this demonstrates the importance of the different research tools to improve the study of the different immune responses, resistance to diseases in the Atlantic salmon. We suggest that this vaccine can help prevent widespread infection by P. salmonis, in addition to being able to be used as a booster after a primary vaccine to maintain high levels of circulating protective antibodies, greatly helping to reduce the economic losses caused by the pathogen.