Genomic selection for improved resistance to Amoebic Gill Disease in farmed Atlantic salmon

三文鱼是人体营养和健康的优质蛋白质和长链脂肪酸的来源。鲑鱼养殖在英国具有重要的经济意义，也是农村和沿海社区的重要就业来源。阿米巴鳃病（AGD）的爆发会导致鲑鱼养殖场的广泛疾病和损失。因此，这种疾病是英国鲑鱼养殖最严重的威胁之一，对鲑鱼的健康和福利产生负面影响。我们以前的工作由技术战略委员会资助，导致开发了一种包含数十万个大西洋鲑鱼遗传标记的芯片。这个芯片使我们能够从鲑鱼的DNA样本中预测鲑鱼对海虱的抵抗力。在这个项目中，我们的目标是应用这种芯片和知识来提高养殖鲑鱼种群对AGD的抵抗力。通过进行受控AGD挑战实验，并利用在农场环境中收集的鳃损伤措施，我们的目标是识别和验证准确的抗性措施。收集的数据将与遗传标记数据相结合，以识别和选择更具抗性的鱼类，从而帮助解决疾病问题。

Salmon are a source of high-quality protein and long chain fatty acids for human nutrition and health. Salmon farming is economically important in the UK and a large source of employment in rural and coastal communities. Outbreaks of Amoebic gill disease (AGD) can cause widespread illness and losses to salmon farms. As such, this disease is one of the most serious threats to UK salmon farming and has a negative effect on salmon health and welfare . Our previous work funded by the Technology Strategy Board has led to the development of a chip containing hundreds of thousands of genetic markers for Atlantic salmon. This chip allowed us to predict how resistant a salmon is to sea lice from a sample of its DNA. In this project, we aim to apply this chip and knowledge to improve the resistance of farmed salmon stocks to AGD . By performing a controlled AGD challenge experiment and utilising measures of gill damage collected in the farm environment, we aim to identify and verify accurate measures of resistance. The data collected will be combined with genetic marker data to identify and select more resistant fish and thus help tackle the disease problem.