Image: Nofima / FIS

Working together to find the salmon lice secrets

The Institute of Marine Research joins the team together with Nofima to find the salmon's genetic secrets. - If we manage to understand a little more, it can make a big difference, says head of research Anna Wargelius.

An international top team becomes even stronger. "We have partners with us who have completely different expertise and who complement each other very well", says Nick Robinson.

Photo: Nofima

Gene editing

He is a senior researcher at Nofima. Now he leads CrispResist, an international project to find the genetic reason why some salmon species are able to resist salmon lice without getting sick. Wargelius and her colleagues at the Institute of Marine Research are the latest addition to the project.

"We are hiring a researcher now, a postdoc who will work on the project for three years. Two to three researchers here will be involved", says Wargelius.

In the project, the researchers will find out which genes make humpback salmon resistant to salmon lice, while the Atlantic salmon used in Norwegian farming do not. In the next round, they will look at opportunities and risks and find out whether it makes sense to use gene editing to make Atlantic salmon more resistant.

"We have been working with that technology - CRISPR-Cas9 - for a very long time. But we have not worked with salmon lice resistance before. It will be new for us, and it is very exciting", she says.

Finding treatment

The Norwegian Institute of Marine Research has not cooperated much with Nofima in this field. Wargelius sees the new collaboration as exciting.

"So far they have produced a lot of data. We are going to take out some genes that we are going to study. We are now working together with Nofima to specify which genes we will go ahead with", she says.

Salmon lice eat the skin and blood of the salmon. It leads to ulcers. The wounds become infected, and the salmon often die. "I hope that we will be able to change the genetics in the salmon in such a way that we get an effect", says Anna Wargelius.

<-- Photo: Nofima

She does not believe that it is possible to develop completely resistant salmon in the short time available to the project. It only lasts until 2024.

"But simply understanding the mechanism can enable us to find different forms of treatment. Not just gene editing, but also medicine and physical treatment methods. If you understand the mechanism behind it, you can do so much more than today", she says.

Learn from other species

Other salmon species do well against salmon lice. Pukkellaks, for example, which has been an unwelcome guest in Norway in recent years.

"If we can understand why that salmon is resistant and understand what the Atlantic salmon lacks, then it is possible to add it. Not only with the help of genetics, but also in other ways. If we manage to understand a little more, it can make a big difference", says Wargelius.

Also other animals

She imagines that the discoveries made by the CrispResist project are interesting for more than just salmon farming:

"Blood parasites are found in other animals, and also in humans. Understanding this mechanism is interesting for other veterinary and medical environments", she says.

"We are happy to bring new gene editing expertise into the project. They know parts of this technology that we have not used before", says Nick Robinson de Nofima.

CrispResist

Research project to exploit genetic variation in resistance, i.e. resilience, against salmon lice. Trying to find the answer to why salmon species other than those used in Norwegian farming are less affected by lice. Uses the gene editing method CRISPR-Cas9 in research.

Senior researcher Nick Robinson at Nofima is the project manager for a project with partners from Norway, the UK, Australia, Canada, the USA and Sweden.

Partners: Nofima, Roslin Institute (University of Edinburgh), Institute of Aquaculture (University of Stirling), Rothamsted Research, University of Melbourne, University of Prince Edward Island, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, University of Gothenburg, University of Bergen, Institute of Marine Research, Benchmark Genetics, Salmar and MOWI.

Funded by FHF - The Fisheries and Aquaculture Industry's research funding.

Author: Georg Mathisen / Nofima | FHF (Translated from the original in Norwegian)

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