Location: Cool and Cold Water Aquaculture Research
2019 Annual Report
Accomplishments
1. Gene expression within eggs can predict reproductive success. Variation in egg quality within a rainbow trout breeding population is quite extensive and unpredictable. As a result of this variation, a single female may produce anywhere from zero to several thousands of offspring. To understand what is contributing to egg quality and reproductive success, ARS researchers in Leetown, West Virginia, compared the gene expression profile in rainbow trout eggs exhibiting good and poor eyeing rate and found over 1,000 differences in gene levels between eggs of varying quality. This new way of predicting the eyeing rate will help producers develop husbandry strategies for improved egg quality and reproductive success.
2. Improved growth performance in triploid rainbow trout. Rainbow trout are diploids (possess two copies of each chromosome) like terrestrial livestock, but unlike terrestrial livestock they are tolerant to triploidy (three copies of each chromosome). Triploid rainbow trout are sterile, just like seedless watermelons, and are used extensively to avoid negative impacts of sexual maturation on performance and to avoid their breeding with native populations. However, this sterility complicates selective breeding programs because genetically-superior triploids cannot be used to produce offspring, and scientists have been uncertain if breeding for improved diploid growth performance also results in improved triploid performance. ARS researchers in Leetown, West Virginia, evaluated long-term growth performance of diploids and triploids from a growth-selected line and an unselected control line. They demonstrated that selection on diploid growth performance is effective for improving triploid growth performance, thereby simplifying commercial breeding programs that market triploid rainbow trout.
Review Publications
Cleveland, B.M., Yamaguchi, G., Radler, L.M., Shimizu, M. 2018. Editing the duplicated insulin-like growth factor binding protein-2b gene in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Scientific Reports. 8:16054. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-34326-6.
Silva, R., Evenhuis, J., Vallejo, R.L., Tsuruta, S., Wiens, G.D., Martin, K., Parsons, J., Palti, Y., Lourenco, D., Leeds, T.D. 2018. Variance and covariance estimates for resistance to bacterial cold water disease and columnaris disease in two rainbow trout breeding populations. Journal of Animal Science. 97(3):1124-1132. https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/sky478.
Cleveland, B.M., Radler, L.M. 2018. Essential amino acids exhibit variable effects on protein degradation in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) primary myocytes. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology - Part A: Molecular & Integrative Physiology. doi:10.1016/j.cbpa.2018.11.019.
Latimer, M., Reid, R., Bigga, P., Cleveland, B.M. 2019. Glucose regulates protein turnover and growth-related mechanisms in rainbow trout myogenic precursor cells. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology - Part A: Molecular & Integrative Physiology. 232:91-97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cbpa.2019.03.010.
Cleveland, B.M., Leeds, T.D., Picklo, M., Brentesen, C., Frost, J., Biga, P. 2019. Supplementing rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) broodstock diets with choline and methionine improves growth in offspring. Journal of the World Aquaculture Society. 50(3):1-16. https://doi.org/10.1111/jwas.12634.
Larson, W.A., Palti, Y., Gao, G., Warheit, K.I., Seeb, J.E. 2018. Rapid discovery of SNPs differentiating hatchery steelhead trout from ESA-listed natural-origin steelhead trout using a 57K SNP array. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. 75:1160-1168. doi:10.1139/cjfas-2017-0116.
Liu, S., Vallejo, R.L., Evenhuis, J., Martin, K.E., Hamilton, A., Gao, G., Leeds, T.D., Wiens, G.D., Palti, Y. 2018. Evaluation of marker-assisted selection for resistance to bacterial cold water disease in three generations of a commercial rainbow trout breeding population [serial online]. Frontiers in Genetics. 9:286. https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2018.00286.
Salem, M., Al-Tobasei, R., Ali, A., Lourenco, D., Gao, G., Palti, Y., Kenney, B., Leeds, T.D. 2018. Genome-wide association analysis with a 50K transcribed gene SNP-chip identifies QTL affecting muscle yield in rainbow trout. Frontiers in Genetics [serial online]. 9:387. doi:10.3389/fgene.2018.00387.
Leeds, T.D., Weber, G.M. 2019. Effects of triploidization on genetic gains in a rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) population selectively bred for diploid growth performance. Aquaculture. 505:481-487. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquaculture.2019.03.003.
Ali, A., Al-Tobasei, R., Kenney, B., Leeds, T.D., Salem, M. 2018. Integrated analysis of IncRNA and mRNA expression in rainbow trout families showing variation in muscle growth and fillet quality traits. Scientific Reports. 8:12111. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-30655-8.
Ma, H., Martin, K., Dixon III, D., Hernandez, A.G., Weber, G.M. 2019. Transcriptome analysis of egg viability in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Biomed Central (BMC) Genomics. 20:319. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-019-5690-5.
