Project Number: 1930-31000-011-02
Project Type: Specific Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: May 15, 2010
End Date: May 14, 2015

Objective:
1) Develop homozygous clonal lines of rainbow trout resistant to bacterial and viral pathogens from previously developed transgenic trout and test disease resistance in outcrosses of different genetic background to evaluate protection. 2) Assess whether transgenic rainbow trout resistant to bacterial and viral pathogens are also resistant to infection by parasites (e.g., Ceratomyxa shasta and Chthyophthirius multifiliis). 3) Develop transgenic rainbow trout capable of accumulating astaxanthin in the flesh and identifying and charactering factors (genes) affecting this trait.

Approach:
Using the disease resistant transgenic trout and the transgenic trout capable of accumulating higher levels of astaxanthin in the flesh as experimental models, we propose to identify and characterize specific pathways and genes leading to increased disease resistance and improved flesh color and nutritional quality.