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Introduction
Publications
Publications (124)
Background
In Atlantic salmon in the wild, age at maturity is strongly influenced by the vgll3 locus. Under farming conditions, light, temperature and feeding regimes are known significantly advance or delay age at maturity. However, the potential influence of the vgll3 locus on the maturation of salmon reared under farming conditions has been rare...
Increased knowledge of heritable traits in Atlantic Salmon ( Salmo salar ) is important to overcome bottlenecks in salmonid aquaculture. Atlantic salmonid populations, both landlocked and anadromous, represent an interesting model to gain insight into anadromy related traits, most notably, the probability to smoltify. While a previous study has ide...
Bone morphogenetic protein 15 (BMP15) is an oocyte‐specific growth factor important for successful female reproduction in mammals. While mutations in BMP15/Bmp15 cause ovulatory deficiency and/or infertility in certain mammalian species, loss of bmp15 in zebrafish, a continuous spawner and the only bmp15 knockout model in fish to date, results in c...
Early puberty poses a significant challenge for male Atlantic salmon in aquaculture due to its negative impact on growth and welfare. The regulation of puberty in vertebrates involves 2 key reproductive hormones: follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) and their gonadal receptors. In male mice lacking FSH receptor, testes si...
Early puberty poses a significant challenge for male Atlantic salmon in aquaculture due to its negative impact on growth and welfare. The regulation of puberty in vertebrates involves 2 key reproductive hormones: follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) and their gonadal receptors. In male mice lacking FSH receptor, testes si...
Genetic introgression of farmed salmon into wild populations can damage the genetic integrity of wild stocks and is therefore considered as an environmental threat. One possible solution is to induce sterility in farmed salmon. We have searched for proteins potentially essential for germline survival in Atlantic salmon. One of these is the argonaut...
Background
Tandem mass tag spectrometry (TMT labeling-LC-MS/MS) was utilized to examine the global proteomes of Atlantic halibut eggs at the 1-cell-stage post fertilization. Comparisons were made between eggs judged to be of good quality (GQ) versus poor quality (BQ) as evidenced by their subsequent rates of survival for 12 days. Altered abundance...
Using germ cell-free (GCF), sterile, dnd-knockout salmon for farming could solve the problems associated with precocious maturation and genetic introgression of farmed breeds into wild populations. However, prior to using GCF fish in the salmon farming industry, it is crucial to understand if, or how, the GCF phenotype differs from wild type (WT) c...
Precocious male maturation causes reduced welfare and increased production costs in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) aquaculture. The pituitary produces and releases follicle-stimulating hormone (Fsh), the gonadotropin triggering puberty in male salmonids. However, little is known about how Fsh production is regulated in Atlantic salmon. We examined,...
Background
New breeding technologies (NBT) using CRISPR/Cas9-induced homology directed repair (HDR) has the potential to expedite genetic improvement in aquaculture. The long generation time in Atlantic salmon makes breeding an unattractive solution to obtain homozygous mutants and improving the rates of perfect HDR in founder (F0) fish is thus req...
Novel genome editing techniques allow for efficient and targeted improvement of aquaculture stock and might be a solution to solve challenges related to disease and environmental impacts. This review has retrieved the latest research on genome editing on aquacultured finfish species, exploring the technological progress and the scope. Genome editin...
Entering meiosis strictly depends on stimulated by retinoic acid 8 (Stra8) gene function in mammals. This gene is missing in a number of fish species, including medaka and zebrafish, but is present in the majority of fishes, including Atlantic salmon. Here, we have examined the effects of removing stra8 on male fertility in Atlantic salmon. As in m...
An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.
The study of sex determination and sex chromosome organisation in non-model species has long been technically challenging, but new sequencing methodologies now enable precise and high-throughput identification of sex-specific genomic sequences. In particular, Restriction Site-Associated DNA Sequencing (RAD-Seq) is being extensively applied to explo...
Selective breeding programs in aquaculture are limited by the heritability of the trait and long generation time in most fish species. New breeding technology (NBT) using CRISPR/Cas9-induced homology directed repair (HDR) have the potential to expedite genetic improvement in aquaculture, but the method requires optimization. Here we show that asymm...
Background
With declining wild fish populations, farmed salmon has gained popularity as a source for healthy long-chain highly unsaturated fatty acids (LC-HUFA). However, the introduction of plant oil in farmed salmon feeds has reduced the content of these beneficial LC-HUFA. The synthetic capability for LC-HUFAs depends upon the dietary precursor...
Background
Farmed Atlantic salmon are one of the most economically significant global aquaculture products. Early sexual maturation of farmed males represents a significant challenge to this industry and has been linked with the vgll3 genotype. However, tools to aid research of this topic, such as all-male and clonal fish, are still lacking. The pr...
Genetic introgression of escaped farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) into wild populations is a major environmental concern for the salmon aquaculture industry. Using sterile fish in commercial aquaculture operations is, therefore, a sustainable strategy for bio-containment. So far, the only commercially used methodology for producing sterile fish...
Despite the key role that sex-determination plays in evolutionary processes, it is still poorly understood in many species. In salmonids, which are among the best studied fishes, the master sex-determining gene sexually dimorphic on the Y-chromosome (sdY) has been identified. However, sdY displays unexplained discordance to the phenotypic sex, with...
Most Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) populations follow an anadromous life cycle, spending early life in freshwater, migrating to the sea for feeding, and returning to rivers to spawn. At the end of the last ice age ~10,000 years ago, several populations of Atlantic salmon became landlocked. Comparing their genomes to their anadromous counterparts...
The study of sex determination and sex chromosome organisation in non-model species has long been technically challenging, but new sequencing methodologies are now enabling precise and high-throughput identification of sex-specific genomic sequences. In particular, Restriction Site-Associated DNA Sequencing (RAD-Seq) is being extensively applied to...
Despite the key role that sex-determination plays in evolutionary processes, it is still poorly understood in many species. In salmonids, which are the best studied family of fishes, the master sex-determining gene sexually dimorphic on the Y-chromosome (sdY) has been identified. However, sdY displays unexplained discordance to the phenotypic sex,...
With declining wild fish populations, farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) has gained popularity as a source for healthy long-chain highly unsaturated fatty acids (LC-HUFA) including 20:5n-3 and 22:6n-3. However, the introduction of plant-based oil in fish diets has reduced the content of these beneficial LC-HUFA. The capability of biosynthesis of...
Background:
Sustainability challenges are currently hampering an increase in salmon production. Using sterile salmon can solve problems with precocious puberty and genetic introgression from farmed escapees to wild populations. Recently sterile salmon was produced by knocking out the germ cell-specific dead end (dnd). Several approaches may be app...
Precise gene editing such as CRISPR/Cas9-mediated homology directed repair (HDR) can increase our understanding of gene function and improve traits of importance for aquaculture. This fine-tuned technology has not been developed for farmed fish including Atlantic salmon. We performed knock-in (KI) of a FLAG element in the slc45a2 gene in salmon usi...
Background Sustainability challenges are currently hampering an increase in salmon production. Using sterile salmon can solve problems with precocious puberty and genetic introgression from farmed escapees to wild populations. Recently sterile salmon was produced by knocking out the germ cell-specific dead end (dnd). Several approaches may be appli...
The in vivo functions of Atlantic salmon fatty acyl desaturases (fads2), Δ6fads2-a, Δ6fads2-b, Δ6fads2-c and Δ5fads2 in long chain polyunsaturated fatty acid (LC-PUFA) synthesis in salmon and fish in general remains to be elucidated. Here, we investigate in vivo functions and in vivo functional redundancy of salmon fads2 using two CRISPR-mediated p...
Background Sustainability challenges are currently hampering an increase in salmon production. Using sterile salmon can solve problems with precocious puberty and genetic introgression from farmed escapees to wild populations. Recently sterile salmon was produced by knocking out the germ cell-specific dead end (dnd). Several approaches may be appli...
Aquaculture is the fastest growing food production sector and is rapidly becoming the primary source of seafood for human diets. Selective breeding programs are enabling genetic improvement of production traits, such as disease resistance, but progress is limited by the heritability of the trait and generation interval of the species. New breeding...
Gene editing offers opportunities to solve fish farming sustainability issues that presently hampers expansion of the aquaculture industry. In for example salmon farming, there are now two major bottlenecks limiting the expansion of the industry. One is the genetic impact of escaped farmed salmon on wild populations, which is considered the most lo...
Atlantic salmon can synthesize polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), such as eicosapentaenoic acid (20:5n-3), arachidonic acid (20:4n-6) and docosahexaenoic acid (22:6n-3) via activities of very long chain
fatty acyl elongases (Elovls) and fatty acyl desaturases (Fads), albeit to a limited degree. Understanding molecular mechanisms of PUFA biosynthe...
Vgll3 is linked to age at maturity in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). However, the molecular mechanisms involving Vgll3 in controlling timing of puberty as well as relevant tissue and cell types are currently unknown. Vgll3 and the associated Hippo pathway has been linked to reduced proliferation activity in different tissues. Analysis of gene expre...
Background
Our understanding of the molecular mechanisms implementing pubertal maturation of the testis in vertebrates is incomplete. This topic is relevant in Atlantic salmon aquaculture, since precocious male puberty negatively impacts animal welfare and growth. We hypothesize that certain miRNAs modulate mRNAs relevant for the initiation of pube...
In all vertebrates studied so far, germ cells are not required for pubertal maturation of the gonadal steroidogenic system, subsequent development of secondary sex characteristics and reproductive behavior. To explore if the absence of germ cells affects puberty or growth in Atlantic salmon, germ cell-free (GCF), dnd knockout and wild type (WT) pos...
Atlantic salmon populations across the world have diverse ecological and evolutionary histories, from wild anadromous or landlocked, to domestication and genetic modification. The natural host behaviours confer protection from infestation by ectoparasitic salmon lice Lepeophtheirus salmonis, yet whether genetic origin results in different behaviour...
Sagittal otoliths are essential components of the sensory organs that enable all teleost fish to hear and maintain balance, and are primarily composed of calcium carbonate. A deformity, where aragonite (the normal crystal form) is replaced with vaterite, was first noted over 50 years ago but its underlying cause is unresolved. We evaluated the prev...
We describe an emerging initiative - the ‘Functional Annotation of All Salmonid Genomes’ (FAASG), which will leverage the extensive trait diversity that has evolved since a whole genome duplication event in the salmonid ancestor, to develop an integrative understanding of the functional genomic basis of phenotypic variation. The outcomes of FAASG w...
We describe an emerging initiative - the ‘Functional Analysis of All Salmonid Genomes’ (FAASG), which will leverage the extensive trait diversity that has evolved since a whole genome duplication event in the salmonid ancestor, to develop an integrative understanding of the functional genomic basis of phenotypic variation. The outcomes of FAASG wil...
Atlantic salmon is a valuable commercial aquaculture species that would benefit economically and environmentally by controlling precocious puberty and preventing escapees from reproducing with wild populations. One solution to both these challenges is the production of sterile individuals by inhibiting the formation of germ cells, but achieving thi...
Background
Populations of Atlantic salmon display highly significant genetic differences with unresolved molecular basis. These differences may result from separate postglacial colonization patterns, diversifying natural selection and adaptation, or a combination. Adaptation could be influenced or even facilitated by the recent whole genome duplica...
The aquaculture industry is under pressure to satisfy global demand for marine foods. Atlantic salmon has been bred for more than forty years, and substantial progress has been made within the culturing and breeding programs. The improved growth rate of Atlantic salmon has been accompanied by an earlier onset of maturation. Among the factors contro...
In Atlantic salmon, a species of great relevance for aquaculture in Northern Europe, precocious puberty in males increases susceptibility to disease, affects flesh quality, reduces growth and cause hypo-osmoregulatory problems (Taranger et al. 2010). It is therefore of high importance to understand the underlying causative molecular processes invol...
Introgression of farmed salmon escapees into wild stocks is a major threat to the genetic integrity of wild populations. Using germ cell-free fish in aquaculture may mitigate this problem. Our study investigated whether it is possible to produce germ cell-free salmon in F0 by using CRISPR-Cas9 to knock out dnd, a factor required for germ cell survi...
Wild and domesticated Atlantic salmon males display large variation for sea age at sexual maturation, which varies between 1-5 years. Previous studies have uncovered a genetic predisposition for variation of age at maturity with moderate heritability, thus suggesting a polygenic or complex nature of this trait. The aim of this study was to identify...
Wild and domesticated Atlantic salmon males display large variation for sea age at sexual maturation, which varies between 1-5 years. Previous studies have uncovered a genetic predisposition for age at maturity with moderate heritability, thus suggesting a polygenic or complex nature of this trait. The aim of this study was to identify associated g...
Fish in use in aquaculture display large variation in gamete biology. To reach better understanding around this issue, this study aims at identifying if species specific "egg life history traits" can be hidden in the unfertilized egg. This was done by investigating egg transcriptome differences between Atlantic salmon and Atlantic cod. Salmon and c...
Triplicate groups of triploid and diploid Atlantic salmon were fed diets with a low (LP, total P: 7.1 g kg−1), medium (MP, total P: 9.4 g kg−1) or high (HP, total P: 16.3 g kg−1) phosphorous (P) level from first feeding (0.18 g) to transfer to sea water (~50 g, duration: 203 days) and subsequently fed a commercial diet in sea water for 426 days (~3...
Understanding the biological function behind key proteins is of great concern in Atlantic salmon, both due to a high commercial importance and an interesting life history. Until recently, functional studies in salmonids appeared to be difficult. However, the recent discovery of targeted mutagenesis using the CRISPR/Cas9 (clustered regularly intersp...
The molecular mechanisms underlying oogenesis and maternally controlled embryogenesis in fish are not fully understood, especially in marine species. Our aim was to study the egg and embryo transcriptome during oogenesis and early embryogenesis in Atlantic cod. Follicles from oogenesis stages (pre-, early-, and late-vitellogenic), ovulated eggs, an...