Grant: Strategic Projects - Group

Aquaculture is a growing source of employment and offers the possibility for social and economic improvements in communities with limited industrial alternatives. Ontario is the major Canadian producer of rainbow trout for human consumption. Even though market demand and consumer acceptability for Ontario trout is very strong, imports of farmed fish products dominate the marketplace. The development of Canadian trout aquaculture is limited by the inability of local producers to supply seedstock to grow-out cages. Production is concentrated within the year because of the restricted spawning time of females. Also, established strains are relatively unimproved for economically important traits such as increased growth rate and the prevention of early maturation. Our long term goal is to provide the molecular genetic information that will expedite the development and availability of rainbow trout strains that are uniquely suited to Canadian conditions. We are using two approaches to meet this goal. The first involves the application of genomic technologies to the selective breeding of normal and all-female lines to increase growth, reduce early maturation, and increase the yearly spawning times of females. The second involves understanding the genetic interactions that may occur within existing strains through the introduction of new genetic material from outside stocks. The specific objectives will be to increase the size of the genetic linkage map for rainbow trout, determine the co-variation in quantitative trait loci for embryonic developmental rate and early maturation, determine the correlation between female spawning date within a season and QTL for other life-history traits, evaluate the performance of crosses between domestic and wild strains and within all-female lines using gene expression profiles, and develop gene expression profile arrays on young fish that may be used to predict future performance. This project involves groups from two Canadian universities, the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans and several industrial partners. This concerted effort is an example of an advanced biotechnology being applied to enhance the capability of one of Canada's resource based industries, namely aquaculture.