The genetic architecture of growth and fillet traits in farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar)

BMC Genetics

Research Article

Alastair Hamilton¹  Derrick R Guy¹  Alan E Tinch¹  Hsin Yuan Tsai²  Ross D Houston²  Stephen C Bishop² 

[1]Landcatch Natural Selection Ltd., 15 Beta Centre, Stirling University Innovation Park, FK9 4NF, Stirling, UK

[2]The Roslin Institute and Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, The University of Edinburgh, EH25 9RG, Midlothian, UK

关键词: Atlantic salmon;    Aquaculture;    Marker-assisted selection;    Quantitative trait loci mapping;    QTL mapping;    Salmo salar;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12863-015-0215-y

 received in 2015-02-03, accepted in 2015-05-11,  发布年份 2015

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundPerformance and quality traits such as harvest weight, fillet weight and flesh color are of economic importance to the Atlantic salmon aquaculture industry. The genetic factors underlying these traits are of scientific and commercial interest. However, such traits are typically polygenic in nature, with the number and size of QTL likely to vary between studies and populations. The aim of this study was to investigate the genetic basis of several growth and fillet traits measured at harvest in a large farmed salmon population by using SNP markers. Due to the marked heterochiasmy in salmonids, an efficient two-stage mapping approach was applied whereby QTL were detected using a sire-based linkage analysis, a sparse SNP marker map and exploiting low rates of recombination, while a subsequent dam-based analysis focused on the significant chromosomes with a denser map to confirm QTL and estimate their position.ResultsThe harvest traits all showed significant heritability, ranging from 0.05 for fillet yield up to 0.53 for the weight traits. In the sire-based analysis, 1695 offspring with trait records and their 20 sires were successfully genotyped for the SNPs on the sparse map. Chromosomes 13, 18, 19 and 20 were shown to harbor genome-wide significant QTL affecting several growth-related traits. The QTL on chr. 13, 18 and 20 were detected in the dam-based analysis using 512 offspring from 10 dams and explained approximately 6–7 % of the within-family variation in these traits.ConclusionsWe have detected several QTL affecting economically important complex traits in a commercial salmon population. Overall, the results suggest that the traits are relatively polygenic and that QTL tend to be pleiotropic (affecting the weight of several components of the harvested fish). Comparison of QTL regions across studies suggests that harvest trait QTL tend to be relatively population-specific. Therefore, the application of marker or genomic selection for improvement in these traits is likely to be most effective when the discovery population is closely related to the selection candidates (e.g. within-family genomic selection).

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Tsai et al.; licensee BioMed Central. 2015