The application of genomic and physiological approaches to Arctic charr commercial aquaculture

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社会和经济改善的可能性。加拿大水产养殖业被认为已经进入了作为一个产业的“第二阶段”，为了保持竞争力，它将不得不开发新的商业养殖物种。北极红点鲑是一种优良的集约化养殖物种，具有冷水需求。木炭的供应预计不能满足日益增长的需求，市场价格应保持溢价。由于其地理和气候，加拿大有可能占世界木炭产量的大部分。扩大北极红点鲑养殖的一个主要障碍是，具有明确生产参数的高质量鱼类的供应不稳定。促进加拿大北极炭产业发展的一个步骤是选择具有重要经济特征的菌株。这项研究将提供分子遗传和表型信息，与传统的数量遗传方法相结合，提高人工选择的效率。我们的长期目标是对这一物种进行标记辅助选择。具体目标是：（1）将北极红点鲑的遗传连锁图的大小增加到700个标记，（2）确定已经鉴定的体型和早熟的数量性状基因座（QTL）是否在加拿大东部的主要亲鱼中具有可检测的影响，（3）评估家系在淡水和微咸水中的表现，（4）鉴定耐全海水的QTL，（5）通过冰岛主要北极红点鲑育种计划的家系基因组扫描确定生长和成熟年龄的QTL，（6）促进加拿大和冰岛学术界和水产养殖部门之间的信息交流。该项目涉及来自加拿大两所大学的团队，来自政府的合作者，冰岛霍拉尔大学学院和几个加拿大北极红点鲑工业合作伙伴。

Aquaculture is recognized as a growing source of employment and offers the possibility for social andeconomic improvements in communities with limited industrial alternatives. Canadian aquaculture isconsidered to have entered its "second phase" as an industry and to remain competitive, it will have to developnew species for commercial cultivation. Arctic charr is an excellent intensive culture species that has a coldwater requirement. The supply of charr is not expected to meet the growing demand and market prices shouldremain at a premium. Because of its geography and climate, Canada has the potential to account for themajority of the world's production of charr. A major impediment to the expansion of Arctic charr farming isthe inconsistent availability of high quality fish with well-defined production parameters. One step that wouldfacilitate the growth of the Canadian Arctic charr industry is the selection of strains that exhibit economicallyimportant traits. This research project will provide the molecular genetic and phenotypic information that willincrease the efficiency of artificial selection when combined with traditional quantitative genetic methods. Ourlong-term goal is to use marker assisted selection with this species. The specific objectives will be to: (1)increase the size of the genetic linkage map for Arctic charr to 700 markers, (2) determine if quantitative traitloci (QTL) for body size and early maturation already identified have detectable effects across a majorbroodstock in eastern Canada, (3) evaluate the performance of families in freshwater and brackish water, (4)identify QTL for tolerance to full seawater, (5) identify QTL for growth and age of maturation through genomescans in families from the major Icelandic Arctic charr breeding program, and (6) facilitate informationexchange among academics and the aquaculture sectors in Canada and Iceland. This project involves groupsfrom two Canadian Universities, collaborators from government, Holar University College Iceland, and severalCanadian Arctic charr industrial partners.