Hormonal Integration of Feeding, Metabolism, Growth and Reproduction in Fish

鱼是全球的主要食物来源。人们对水产养殖的需求迅速增长，以满足人们对食用鱼类的需求。这就需要旨在促进养殖鱼类生长、繁殖成功和体重增加的技术。只有通过基于证据的科学方法，包括本申请中概述的研究类型，才能改进可持续水产养殖。荷尔蒙基础研究产生的知识对改进水产养殖实践至关重要。例如，目前有基于激素的药物来刺激繁殖成功，有激素过度表达的快速生长鱼类品系，以及利用饲料调节鱼类中有益激素的水产养殖实践。我的研究计划的愿景和长期目标是更好地了解荷尔蒙如何调节鱼类的摄食、新陈代谢、生长和繁殖。这项研究的最终结果是产生新的知识和改进水产养殖实践。根据这一总体目标，我的NSERC发现赠款资助的研究在过去十年中在表征大量激素及其在调节喂养、生长、新陈代谢和生殖中的作用方面做出了开创性的贡献。我假设鱼的摄食、新陈代谢、生长和繁殖都由新的荷尔蒙(例如：蝴蝶素、菲尼辛)相互关联。这项研究的短期目标是(I)表征新激素在新陈代谢、生长和繁殖中的作用，(Ii)研究这些激素用于诱导其功能的机制，以及(Iii)开发有效利用我们确定的激素来诱导鱼类生长和产卵的策略。使用斑马鱼、金鱼和彩虹鲑鱼--这里概述的研究类型的广泛使用的模型，我将使用一些尖端研究技术来研究鱼类新陈代谢、生长和繁殖的激素调节。我预计这些新奇的荷尔蒙会对鱼类产生重大的生物效应。此外，这项研究将验证激素和饲料的组合作为水产养殖中提高鱼类产量的潜在策略。这里概述的研究结果将提供(I)关于鱼类摄食量、新陈代谢、生长和繁殖的荷尔蒙调节的重要知识，以及(Ii)在制定促进鱼类生长和繁殖的战略方面极有希望有利于渔业和水产养殖。这种跨学科的研究为大量高素质的人员提供了出色的培训机会，这些人员将加入需要高度特定技能的职业。这项研究将有助于保持加拿大作为水产养殖业领先者的地位，并有助于我国成为未来劳动力的人才库。

Fish is a major food source around the globe. There is a rapidly growing demand for aquaculture to meet the demand for fish used for consumption. This necessitates technologies aimed to facilitate growth, reproductive success and weight gain of cultured fishes. Sustainable aquaculture can only be improved through evidence based scientific approaches, including the type of research outlined in this application. Knowledge generated by basic research on hormones is critical in refining aquaculture practices. For example, currently there are hormone-based drugs that stimulate reproductive success, hormone-overexpressing strains of fast growing fish, and aquaculture practices that utilize diets to modulate beneficial hormones in fish. The vision, and long-term goal of my research program is to better understand how hormones regulate food intake, metabolism, growth and reproduction in fish. The eventual outcomes of this research are generation of new knowledge and betterment of aquaculture practices. In line with this overarching goal, my NSERC Discovery Grant funded research over the past decade has made seminal contributions in characterizing a large number of hormones and their roles in the regulation of feeding, growth, metabolism and reproduction. I hypothesize that feeding, metabolism, growth and reproduction are interlinked by novel hormones (eg: irisin, pheonixin) in fish. The short-term objectives of the research proposed here are to (i) characterize the role of novel hormones on metabolism, growth and reproduction, (ii) study the mechanisms these hormones use to elicit their functions, and (iii) to develop strategies to effectively utilize hormones we identified to induce growth and spawning in fish. Using zebrafish, goldfish and rainbow trout, widely used models for the type of research outlined here, I will employ a number of cutting-edge research techniques to study hormonal regulation of fish metabolism, growth and reproduction. I anticipate these novel hormones to have significant biological effects in fish. In addition, this research will validate combinations of hormones and diets as potential strategies in aquaculture for improving fish yield. The results of the research outlined here will provide (i) significant knowledge on the hormonal regulation of food intake, metabolism, growth and reproduction in fish, and (ii) is strongly expected to benefit fisheries and aquaculture in developing strategies to augment growth and reproduction of fish. This interdisciplinary research provides outstanding training opportunities for a large number of highly qualified personnel, who will join careers that require highly specific skill sets. This research will contribute to sustain Canada as a leader in aquaculture, and our country as a reservoir of talent pool for the future workforce.