BiotechMashup

A 10-year effort by a scientist to develop transgenic rainbow trout with enhanced muscle growth has yielded fish with what have been described as six-pack abs and muscular shoulders that could provide a boost to the commercial aquaculture industry.

by Lars Holten-Andersen, Inger Dalsgaard, Kurt Buchmann
Background Furunculosis, caused by Aeromonas salmonicida, continues to be a major health problem for the growing salmonid aquaculture. Despite effective vaccination programs regular outbreaks occur at the fish farms calling for repeated antibiotic treatment. We hypothesized that a difference in natural susceptibility to this disease might exist between Baltic salmon and the widely used rainbow trout.

Fast-growing farm-raised salmon and trout that are sterile can now be produced using a method developed by agricultural scientists. Blocking reproduction can enhance growth, and is important for fish being reared in situations where reproduction is undesirable.

(University of Rhode Island) A URI oceanographer has invented an innovative and inexpensive meter for measuring currents near the bottom of bays, rivers and other shallow waters that is being used by lobstermen, the aquaculture industry, and scientists around the world.

(Oregon State University) Genetic research is showing that healthy steelhead runs in Pacific Northwest streams can depend heavily on the productivity of their stay-at-home counterparts, rainbow trout.

by Martin K. Raida, Jørgen Nylén, Lars Holten-Andersen, Kurt Buchmann

by Martin K. Raida, Jørgen Nylén, Lars Holten-Andersen, Kurt Buchmann

Host specificity is a phenomenon exhibited by all viruses. For the fish rhabdovirus infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV), differential specificity of virus strains from the U and M genogroups has been established both in the field and in experimental challenges. In rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), M IHNV strains are consistently more prevalent and more virulent than U IHNV. The basis of the differential ability of these two IHNV genogroups to cause disease in rainbow trout was investigated in live infection challenges with representative U and M IHNV strains.

Scientists have developed a barley protein concentrate that could be fed to trout and other commercially produced fish.