Get in touch
For more details on how to establish your own successful collaboration with the Roslin Institute at the University of Edinburgh, please get in touch with…
Sonja Vujovic
Business Development Executive sonja.vujovic@ed.ac.uk
included the Institute of Aquaculture at the University of Stirling, and the GenePool within the Institute of Evolutionary Biology at Edinburgh. This research led to the development of genetic marker tests for IPN resistance that have been applied by LNS under an exclusive licence agreement. These tests have enabled LNS to improve its own breeding programme by more accurately predicting the innate resistance of the fish and breeding from those that are most resistant. Dr Ross Houston at the Roslin Institute said: “We have mapped a major locus affecting IPN survival and have used the latest DNA sequencing technology to develop new single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers that can predict the resistance status of the fish. These markers are used in aquaculture as genetic tests to reduce mortality
and morbidity due to the disease. The experiments required to achieve these results would not have been possible without both industry and academic resources.” The benefits to the company from working with the University have been substantial. As an SME, LNS did not have the resources to undertake the large-scale experimental projects required to develop this genetic marker technology for IPN resistance. This partnership with the Roslin Institute has provided LNS with access to Roslin’s invaluable research expertise in quantitative and molecular genetics, as well as knowledge in the application of these new technologies to animal breeding. As a result, use of the genetic tests developed in the collaboration with the Institute has contributed to an estimated 30 per cent reduction in IPN mortality per generation (every four years) in stock coming from the LNS salmon breeding programme.
aquafact
The Scottish farmed salmon is Scotland’s largest food export. It is worth more than £1 billion to the Scottish economy.
In economic terms, the increased egg and smolt sales, as a result of demonstrable IPN resistance of the stock, have been of substantial direct benefit to the company. Furthermore, improvement in animal welfare and the overall sustainability of the aquaculture industry in the UK have resulted from the reduced impact of a deadly infectious disease. In November 2010, Dr Houston received a BBSRC Fellowship to continue the University’s work with LNS, investigating factors underlying the genetic resistance of Atlantic salmon to infectious disease. LNS also received funding in March 2011 via the Technology Strategy Board/ BBSRC Genomes UK: Exploiting the Potential of High-Throughput Sequencing funding competition to further develop the high-density salmon SNP chip, which would be a key tool for improving the competitiveness and sustainability of the UK salmon farming industry. This latest research with Edinburgh is in collaboration with the Universities of Stirling and Glasgow and world-leading microarray supplier, Affymetrix Ltd. Dr Alan Tinch, Breeding Programme Director at Landcatch Natural Selection Ltd, said: “Collaboration between researchers at Roslin Institute and geneticists in LNS has led to the transfer of leading-edge genetic technology to the aquaculture industry with resulting improvements in disease resistance and welfare of farmed salmon.”
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