Abstract
Growth hormone (GH) transgenic fish have accelerated growth and could improve production efficiency in aquaculture. However, concern exists regarding potential environmental risks of GH transgenic fish should they escape rearing facilities. While environmental effects have been examined in some GH transgenic models, there is a lack of information on whether effects differ among different constructs or strains of transgenic fish. We compared growth and survival of wild-type coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) fry, a fast-growing GH transgenic strain containing a metallothionein promoter (TMT), and three lines/strains containing a reportedly weaker histone-3 promoter (TH3) in hatchery conditions and semi-natural stream tanks with varying levels of natural food and predators. Rank order of genotype size and survival differed with varying environmental conditions, both within and among experiments. Despite accelerated growth in hatchery conditions, TMT fry gained little or no growth enhancement in stream conditions, had enhanced survival when food was limiting, and inconsistent survival under other conditions. Rank growth was inconsistent in TH3 strains, with one strain having highest, and two strains having the lowest growth in stream conditions, although all TH3 strains had consistently poor survival. These studies demonstrate the importance of determining risk estimates for each unique transgenic model independent of other models.
Highlights
Insertion of a growth hormone (GH) transgene results in greatly accelerated growth in a number of commercially important finfish species (e.g. [1,2,3,4,5]), and has the potential to improve aquaculture production efficiency in some circumstances
In the most limiting conditions W fry were greater in size than T fry, and Three strains/lines of OnH3GH1 (TH3)-C fry were greater in size than transgenic strain containing a metallothionein promoter (TMT) fry
At 51 weeks when fed medium supplemental food, TH3-C fish were greater in size than W fish only, while at high supplemental food, size was in the order of TH3-C > TMT > W
Summary
Insertion of a growth hormone (GH) transgene results in greatly accelerated growth in a number of commercially important finfish species (e.g. [1,2,3,4,5]), and has the potential to improve aquaculture production efficiency in some circumstances. Insertion of a growth hormone (GH) transgene results in greatly accelerated growth in a number of commercially important finfish species [1,2,3,4,5]), and has the potential to improve aquaculture production efficiency in some circumstances. An Atlantic salmon strain containing a chinook salmon GH transgene fused to an ocean pout antifreeze promoter (opAFP-GHc2) was approved for commercial production for the USA and Canada, potentially making it the first transgenic animal marketed for human consumption. Strains Effects of Fast Growing Salmon on Success in Simulated Streams. The present work does not necessarily reflect the Community’s views and in no way anticipates its future policy in this area. The Adlerbert Research Foundation contributed financially to LFS. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript
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