Abstract
BackgroundTeleosts are exposed to a broad range of external stimuli, which may be either of acute or chronic nature. The larval phase of certain fish species offer a unique opportunity to study the interactions between genes and environmental factors during early life. The present study investigates the effects of early-life events, applied at different time points of early ontogeny (first feeding, flexion and development of all fins; Phase 1) as well as on the subsequent juvenile stage after the application of an additional acute stressor (Phase 2) in the gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata), a commercially important European aquaculture species. Animal performance, the cortisol response and gene expression patterns during early development as well as on the subsequent phases (juveniles) after the application of additional acute stressors were investigated.ResultsSignificant differences on fish performance were found only for juveniles exposed to early-life events at the phase of the formation of all fins. On the transcriptome level distinct expression patterns were obtained for larvae as well as for juveniles with the most divergent expression pattern found to be again at the phase of the development of all fins, which showed to have also an impact later on in the acute stress response of juveniles.ConclusionsThe present study showed that applying an early-life protocol, characterized by the unpredictable, variable and moderate intensity of the applied stimuli provides a relative realistic model to evaluate the impact of daily aquaculture practices on fish performance. In addition, the power of investigating global gene expression patterns is shown, providing significant insights regarding the response of early-life events during development and as juveniles after the application of extra acute stressors.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12864-016-2874-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Teleosts are exposed to a broad range of external stimuli, which may be either of acute or chronic nature
The multiple linear regression analysis for both total length and wet weight showed that the protocol, had no significant effect on the growth rate of larvae at the end of the period that it was applied (Fig. 1b)
During Phase 2, similar results were observed for both species, as fish, that had experienced an early-life event during the stage of the formation of all fins showed the worst performance. These results indicate that the earlylife protocol applied, which is characterized by the unpredictability, variety and moderate intensity of the applied stimuli, provides a relative realistic model to evaluate the impact of daily aquaculture practices on fish performance
Summary
Teleosts are exposed to a broad range of external stimuli, which may be either of acute or chronic nature. Besides the variety of parameters concerning external stimuli, a broad range of Sarropoulou et al BMC Genomics (2016) 17:506 different responses to external stimuli have been described, which may be of an adaptive or maladaptive nature [6, 7, 9]. The latter influences survival, reproductive capabilities, general fitness and immune response [6, 7, 10, 11]. Up until now, only scarce information has been available dealing how established ordinary rearing methods during early life stages impacts the brain function, learning ability and coping styles of fish and more importantly, if they are of adaptive or maladaptive nature
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