Acronym NA
Category
Fisheries
Aquaculture
Title Developmental and growth dynamics of the vertebral column in farmed Atlantic salmon
Programme National Programme
Instrument (FP6)
Contact Type (FP7)
Strand (Interreg)
NA
Theme (FP7)
Activity Area (FP6)
Regional Area (Interreg)
Action (COST)
NA
Specific Programme (FP7)
NA
Funding source National
Coordinator Sindre Grotmol
Coordinator email sindre.grotmol@zoo.uib.no
Coordinator institution
UiB - University of Bergen (Norway)
Institutions involved
NA
Start year 2005
End year 2008
Funding (€) € 176,000
Website https://www.fhf.no/prosjekter/prosjektbasen/552282/
Summary It is well known from birds and mammals that skeletal tissues are dynamic and sensitive to factors such as exercise and nutrition. In the present proposal, we wish to elucidate the effects of mechanic stimulation of vertebrae through exercise, and the effects of fast growth on vertebral architecture and bone matrix composition in salmon. The effects of artificially induced maximal growth on the vertebrae of both wild and farmed populations will also be studied. Furthermore, we wish to investigate the relationship between vertebral bone architecture, matrix composition and strength, as a result of fast growth. Atlantic salmon parr and smolts will be reared under combinations of photoperiod and temperature that generate between a 4 and 6 fold differences in growth rate between experimental groups. Selected individuals from these studies will be transferred to the exercise system (see below) to study the combined effect extreme growth and exercise. The exercise system is supplied with both fresh and salt water at different temperatures and the water current can be regulated up to 80 cm per second (i.e. allowing exercise at four body lengths per second for fish up to 20 cm. Salmon in different life stages, and with different growth rates will be tested in the exercise system. Alteration of the environment may lead to dynamic expressional changes in many genes involved in growth regulation and those coding matrix constituents. We are therefore interested in establishing a small micro-array containing about 30 expressed sequence tags (EST). By analysing the EST data banks provided by Norway (http://www.salmongenome.no/cgi-bin/sgp.cgi) and Canada (http://web.uvic.ca/cbr/grasp/) genes involved in skeletal growth will be selected in addition to those already studied in our group. By brief scanning we have already identified a few 'skeletogenic genes' (noggin3, col II, pitx1, pitx2 ) and in addition to already characterized genes (see section molecular regulation of bone growth). About 30 genes will be spotted on a micro-array-plate by help of the micro-array consortium in Norway (http://www.mikromatrise.no/facility/NMC/page/id/66, ref. Professor Ola Myklebost). This method will hopefully elucidates the plasticity of skeletogenic factors related to exercise and fast growth in both wild and farmed salmon populations.
Goals:
• To produce knowledge about how domestication of salmon affects normal growth and development of the spine.
• To shed light on how swimming speed affects the growth and development of vertebrae, including vertebral architecture, chemical composition of bone tissue and gene expression.
Keywords
Fish;
Genetic;
Wild animals;
Fish biology;
Salmon;
Marine Region
76
Not associated to marine areas
0
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