Improved upper thermal tolerance in rainbow trout

水产养殖被认为是一个日益增长的就业来源，并为工业替代品有限的社区提供了改善社会和经济的可能性。安大略省是加拿大虹鳟鱼的主要产地，供人类食用。幼鳟鱼（称为种鱼）由成年饲养者（种鱼）生产，并在陆上孵化场饲养几个月。然后它们被运送到乔治亚湾和休伦湖北航道的笼子里，在那里它们在夏天被种植并收获。尽管安大略省鳟鱼的市场需求和消费者接受度非常高，但养殖鱼产品的进口仍主导着市场。安大略省主要的种料生产商（安大略省新邓迪的林登鱼孵化场公司）无法满足对笼养种料的需求。加拿大鳟鱼养殖业的发展受到不断增加的夏季温度的限制，这些鱼暴露在笼子里。水温升高会导致压力，导致鱼在四周或更长时间内不进食和生长-鱼片产量可减少高达25%。我们提出的研究将使用两种相互关联的策略来加速虹鳟鱼的发展和可用性，这些虹鳟鱼适合在较高的水温下养殖。首先，我们将确定与增加对热胁迫的耐受性相关的遗传标记。这将促进林登虹鳟鱼亲鱼的遗传改良，从而提高安大略省工业的生产力。其次，我们将探索一种新的方法，让幼鱼预先适应温和的热应激，并测试它们长大后是否能够抵抗压力。该项目涉及来自两所加拿大大学和两个支持组织的小组。这一协调一致的努力是应用先进生物技术提高加拿大资源型工业之一，即水产养殖业能力的一个例子。

Aquaculture is recognized as a growing source of employment and offers the possibility for social and economic improvements in communities with limited industrial alternatives. Ontario is the major Canadian producer of rainbow trout for human consumption. Young trout (called seedstock) are produced from adult breeders (broodstock) and reared for several months in land-based hatcheries. They are then transported to cages in Georgian Bay and the North Channel of Lake Huron where they are grown over the summer and harvested. Even though market demand and consumer acceptability for Ontario trout is very strong, imports of farmed fish products dominate the marketplace. The major producer of seedstock in Ontario (Lyndon Fish Hatcheries Inc., New Dundee, Ontario) is unable to meet the demand for seedstock to be grown in cages. The development of Canadian trout aquaculture is limited by the ever increasing summer temperatures that the fish are being exposed to in the cages. Increased water temperatures lead to stress and as a result the fish do not feed and grow for four weeks or more - fillet yield can be reduced by up to 25%. Our proposed research will use two inter-related strategies expedite the development and availability of rainbow trout that are suited to culture at higher water temperatures. First, we will identify genetic markers that are associated with increased tolerance to thermal stress. This will facilitate the genetic improvement of the Lyndon rainbow trout broodstock and thus increase productivity of the Ontario industry. Second, we will explore a novel approach where young fish are pre-conditioned to mild thermal stress and test whether they are able to resist stress when they are older. This project involves groups from two Canadian universities and two supporting organizations. This concerted effort is an example of an advanced biotechnology being applied to enhance the capability of one of Canada's resource based industries, namely aquaculture.