BioCage: a novel approach for biological containment of farmed fish

拟议的研究项目旨在找到一种创新的解决方案，以解决养殖场养鱼逃逸的问题。在过去的十年里，由于担心逃脱的家养鱼可能通过竞争食物而对野生鱼类种群造成负面生态影响，并由于与自然种群杂交而产生遗传污染，从网箱中逃脱的鱼已变得高度政治化。该项目将开发一系列转基因鱼，表达一种导致对特定营养需求增加的特定因素。在人工喂养制度下，对这种养分的需求将得到满足。在鱼种逃逸的情况下，逃逸的鱼将无法生存，因为在鱼的天然猎物中，不会发现足够高水平的特定营养物质。由于营养缺乏，逃逸的鱼会失去状态，变得厌食症，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)验证模式鱼物种适当表达所选基因结构的能力；3)验证营养操作克服更高水平特定营养需求的能力。该项目将为开发养殖鱼类物种的创新生物遏制战略打开大门，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.