Development of fish species new to aquaculture: optimizing reproduction, growth and selection of high performance traits.

水产品生产现在占所有鱼类消费的很大一部分。一个只有30年历史的行业出现了令人难以置信的增长。水产科学也是非常新的，尚未解决与该行业相关的许多挑战。例如，与农业不同，鱼类生产的育种计划很少。开发水产养殖物种的最困难的方面之一是管理和生产高质量的配子，这些配子将产生具有在经济背景下导致“最佳性能”的特性的鱼类。* 鸡蛋质量是水产养殖中的一个问题，主要受雌性饮食控制。空间和时间的要求，以确定对鸡蛋质量的饮食操作的影响是巨大的，特别是对于较大的，寿命较长的鱼类。因此，开发亲鱼饲料是困难的、耗时的和昂贵的。在胚胎水平上控制营养有可能成为管理鸡蛋质量的更具成本效益的方法。我们已经开发出第一个成功的显微注射/操作系统，以控制活鱼胚胎的卵黄大小。我建议进一步修改这种方法，提供一个快速和廉价的方法，亲鱼饲料的发展。我建议操纵必需脂肪酸（EFA）的配置文件内发育斑马鱼胚胎。EFA在鱼类中具有各种重要功能。例如，DHA被认为是神经系统、感觉器官和眼睛正常发育的EFA。我们将通过显微注射/操作DHA和其他必需脂肪酸（如EPA和ARA）来改变鱼卵的脂肪酸谱，以研究它们如何影响斑马鱼的发育，生存和性能特征。这项工作将是制定显微注射/操作协议的第一步，以促进水产养殖亲鱼饲料的发展。卵子通常被视为有限的资源，而精子被认为是无限的。然而，这并不一定是事实;对于许多鱼类来说，每个繁殖季节只产生有限数量的精子。因此，为了管理配子在培养环境中的使用并了解野生种群中的招募，我们需要知道每个卵子受精需要多少精子，暴露于水后精子的行为和寿命，以及卵子在释放后多久可以接受受精。在这项拟议的工作中，我们将专注于鲟鱼精子和卵子的相互作用。鲟鱼是世界上最珍贵和濒危的鱼类之一。目前，全球野生捕捞和水产养殖鱼子酱的供应量很低，对这种高价值产品的需求进一步给剩余的野生鲟鱼种群带来了压力。我的学生和我将重点评估精子质量和精卵相互作用的三个物种发生在加拿大，这是水产养殖和保护利益：短吻鲟（Acipenser brevirostrum），湖（A。fulvescens）和白色（A. transmontanus）鲟鱼。这项工作的影响是双重的。为了生产目的，精子特征的基线数据为选择高质量的雄性亲鱼提供了信息，而精子/卵子相互作用的研究揭示了精子与卵子的比例，有助于有效的配子管理。这项工作还提供了深入了解维持野生种群所需的性别比例以及生殖策略的信息。鲟鱼养殖业的进一步发展不仅会带来经济收益，还将减轻野生种群的压力，有助于保护这些濒危鱼类。本研究计划将资助培养3名研究生和7名本科生。

Aquaculture production now represents a significant portion of all fish consumed. There has been unbelievable growth of an industry barely 30 years old. Aquaculture science is also very new and has yet to address many challenges associated with this industry. For example, unlike agriculture, very few breeding programs exist for fish production. One of the most difficult aspects of developing species for aquaculture is managing and producing high quality gametes that will produce fish with traits leading to "optimal performance" in an economic context. *Egg quality is an issue in aquaculture and is largely controlled by female diet. Space and time requirements for determining the effect of diet manipulation on egg quality are substantial, particularly for larger, longer-lived fishes. Consequently, developing broodstock diets is difficult, time consuming and expensive. Controlling nutrition at the level of the embryo has the potential to be a much more cost-effective means of managing egg quality. We have developed the first successful microinjection/manipulation system to control yolk size in living fish embryos. I propose to further modify this method, providing a fast and inexpensive approach for development of broodstock diets. I propose to manipulate essential fatty acid (EFA) profiles within developing zebrafish embryos. EFA's serve various essential functions in fishes. For example, DHA has been implicated as an EFA for normal development of nervous system, sensory organs, and eyes. We will alter the fatty acid profile of fish eggs by microinjection/manipulation of DHA and other essential fatty acids, such as EPA and ARA, to examine how they affect development, survival, and performance characteristics in zebrafish. This work will be the first step in developing a microinjection/manipulation protocol to contribute to development of broodstock diets for aquaculture. *Eggs are typically viewed as a limited resource while spermatozoa are considered unlimited. However, this is not necessarily the case; for many fish species only a limited quantity of spermatozoa are produced each breeding season. Therefore, to manage gamete use in a culture setting and understand recruitment in wild populations, we need to know how many spermatozoa are required to fertilize each egg, spermatozoa behaviour and longevity after exposure to water, and how long eggs are receptive to fertilization post-release. In this proposed work, we will focus on sperm and egg interactions in sturgeon. Sturgeon are among the most valuable and endangered fishes in the world. Currently, global supplies of caviar from wild harvesting and aquaculture operations are low and the resultant demand for this highly valued product has put further pressure on remaining wild sturgeon stocks. My students and I will focus on assessing sperm quality and sperm-egg interactions for three species occurring in Canada that are of both aquaculture and conservation interest: shortnose (Acipenser brevirostrum), lake (A. fulvescens), and white (A. transmontanus) sturgeons. Implications of this work are two-fold. For production purposes, baseline data on sperm characteristics informs selection of high quality males for broodstock while research on sperm/egg interactions reveals sperm-to-egg ratios, contributing to effective gamete management. This work also provides insight into sex ratios required to sustain wild populations as well as information on reproductive strategies. Further development of sturgeon aquaculture will not only bring about economic gains, but will also alleviate pressure on wild populations, contributing to the conservation of these imperilled fishes. Three graduate students and 7 undergraduate students will be trained through funding for this research program.