August 15, 2007

UK company identifies way to breed salmon through DNA-trait selection

UK scientists have made a discovery that may enable salmon to be selectively bred for desirable traits in similar ways cows and pigs are selectively bred in the industry currently. 

The discovery, made by Landcatch Natural Selection Ltd. (LNS), working  with scientists at the Roslin Institute, Edinburgh, and at the Institute of Aquaculture, Stirling was said to be a "quantum leap" in the development of salmon aquaculture.

LNS is applying Quantitative Trait Loci (QTLs) to breeding selections for growth and disease resistance.

The discovery would enable LNS to apply Marker-Assisted Selection to their breeding program, making it even more effective than traditional methods of trait selection.

LNS, based in Alloa, Scotland, have been applying DNA fingerprinting for over ten years to their breeding programme. Now, by combining their performance database with the results from DNA fingerprinting, LNS could apply Quantitative Trait Loci (QTLs) to breeding selections to select for traits on growth and disease resistance, especially that of resistance to Infectious Pacreatic Necrosis (IPN).

This breakthrough means scientists can now look at the DNA of broodstock salmon and identify those with the most favourable genes for growth and robustness, said Dr Alan Tinch, LNS breeding programme director.

In the past, producers would have to choose the best traits based on performance records. Basing it on DNA would bring about a much greater improvement than previously, he added.

The team is already producing eggs and smolts selected based on individual customer requirements, said Dr Tinch. As more QTLs are identified, the range that salmon can be customized would be greatly expanded.

LNS now produces 110 million salmon eggs from facilities in Scotland and Chile and aims to supply one-fifth of the world's salmon eggs by 2010.