Non-destructive applications of gene transcriptional profiling to fish health and stress quantification

Freshwater fish contribute to the economic and ecological wellbeing of Canada; however, they are in decline globally. To mitigate those threats, accurate health status data for individual fish is critical. Since fish respond to changes in their habitat through gene expression, unexpected changes in gene expression patterns are powerful indicators of fish stress and declining health. “Transcriptional profiling” is the quantification of gene expression across multiple related function genes to detect changes in fish health. This project will develop non-destructive sampling methods for gene expression fish health assessment. Specifically, methods to sample tissues such as blood, mucus, gill and muscle without harming the fish will be developed. also It will explore using environmental RNA whereby transcriptional profiles can be determined from RNA extracted from the water the fish live in – without even touching the fish! Such non-destructive approaches will revolutionize fish health assessment for industry, government and ecological purposes

Faculty Supervisor:

Daniel Heath;Ken Jeffries

Student:

Partner:

Yellow Island Aquaculture Ltd;Hatfield Consultants;Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Agriculture

University:

University of Windsor

Program: