Project Title: “ Development of Stress Markers to Determine Susceptibility to Diseases in Salmonids”
Conventional Title: “Development of Stress Detection Tools to Determine Susceptibility to Diseases in Salmonids”
- Director: Dr. Claudio Acuña
General Objective (Technical Description):Development of a tool that allows for the evaluation of fish’s physiological state and their susceptibility to diseases.
Description: The team has identified genes that change their expression significantly during events of physiological stress, compared with their basal expression under standard conditions. Measurements are performed using molecular analysis through real-time PCR (qPCR, quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction). Differences were observed in fish, especially after stress events that are typical of the farm process, such as hypoxia, temperature shifts, overcrowding and hepatic stress caused by chemical agents, among others. This development will result in an expression profile that reflects the fish’s stress which could be related to higher susceptibility to pathogenic infections.
Status: A kit is being developed that can quantify changes in the expression of physiological stress marker genes, using real-time PCR (qPCR).
Project Benefits: The expression of genes related with physiological stress that present the best correlation with susceptibility to diseases, will offer key information for the intervention in those events causing stress in the studied population. This can improve the fish’s physiological state during the productive cycle.
