Molecular basis of fish defences against viruses

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Viral pathogens such as nodaviruses and infectious salmon anemia virus (ISAV) are serious threats to cultured and wild fish. Much of what is currently known regarding fish gene and protein expression responses to viruses and other immune stimuli involves later life stage fish (i.e. juveniles to adults). However, little is known regarding comparative aspects of antiviral responses in fishes, how early life stage (i.e. embryonic and larval) fish defend themselves against aquatic viruses, and how environmental stressors such as heat stress influence the development and function of fish immune systems. The proposed research utilizes functional genomics tools such as DNA microarrays (also called "gene chips") and other approaches (e.g. target gene knockdown experiments) to study and compare the genes, gene products, and mechanisms involved in antiviral immune responses during different life stages of teleost fish from embryo to adult. In addition, I and my trainees will investigate the impact of heat stress on embryonic and larval fish innate immune systems and antiviral immune responses. Atlantic salmon, Atlantic cod, and zebrafish will be used as models in this research. These three species of fish are evolutionarily diverged, and are well-supported by genomic resources such as sequence databases and DNA microarrays. I hypothesize that our comparative studies of interferon pathway and other immune-relevant gene structure, expression, and function using salmon, cod, and zebrafish as models will allow identification of conserved components of fish defence (e.g. genes and molecular pathways involved in antiviral defence responses of all teleost fish), as well as lineage-specific mechanisms of defence (e.g. present in cod but not salmon). I anticipate that this research will make important contributions to the field of developmental and comparative immunology (e.g. by investigating the genes and proteins involved in embryonic and larval fish responses to viral stimuli in the presence and absence of elevated ambient temperature), and be invaluable to several research areas including evolutionary biology, fisheries, and aquaculture.