BioCage: a novel approach for biological containment of farmed fish

拟议中的研究项目旨在找到一种创新的解决方案，以解决农场养殖的鱼向鱼类转移的问题。在过去的十年里，鱼类从围栏中逃跑已经变得高度政治化，因为人们担心，从围栏中逃跑的家鱼可能会对野生鱼类种群造成负面的生态影响，因为它们在争夺食物方面处于劣势，并且由于与自然种群杂交而造成遗传污染。该项目将开发一种转基因鱼类，表达一种特定因素，导致对特定营养物质的需求增加。在人工饲养制度下，对这种营养物质的需求将被满足。如果鱼逃跑了，逃跑的鱼将无法生存，因为在鱼的自然猎物中找不到足够高的营养物质。由于营养缺乏，逃出来的鱼会失去状态，变得厌食，无法繁殖，最终死亡。该项目的具体目标是1)评估允许增加特定营养需求的特定遗传结构；2)验证模式鱼适当表达所选基因构建的能力；3)验证营养操纵的能力，以克服更高水平的特定营养需求。该项目将为制定养殖鱼类的创新生物防治战略打开大门，从而减少水产养殖生产对野生鱼类种群的生态影响。

The proposed research project looks to find an innovative solution to the problem of the escape of farm-raised to fish. Over the past decade, fish escape from net pens has become highly politicized due to the concern that the escaped domestic fish may cause negative ecological impacts on wild fish stocks by out-competing for food and has a source of genetic pollution as a result of interbreeding with natural populations. The project will develop a line of transgenic fish expressing a specific factor that causes an increased requirement for a specific nutrient. Under artificial feeding regimes, the requirement for this nutrient will be covered. In the event offish escape, the escaped fish would be unable to survive due to the fact that the specific nutrient under question would not be found at high enough levels in the fish's natural prey. As a result of nutrient deficiency, escaped fish would lose condition, become anorexic, fail to reproduce and eventually die. The specific objectives of the project are 1) evaluate specific genetic constructs permitting an increase in specific nutrient requirement; 2) verify the ability of a model fish species to appropriately express selected gene construct; 3) validate the ability of nutritional manipulations to overcome higher levels of specific nutrient requirements. This project will open the door to the development of an innovative biocontainment strategy for farmed fish species and thus reduce the ecological impact of aquaculture production on wild fish stocks.