Fast-growing growth hormone transgenic coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) show a lower incidence of vaterite deposition and malformations in sagittal otoliths

In fish otoliths, CaCO3 normally precipitates as aragonite, and more rarely as vaterite or calcite. A higher incidence of vaterite deposition in otoliths from aquaculture-reared fish has been reported and it is thought that high growth rates under farming conditions might promote its deposition. To...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Chalan, Irvin, Solsona, Laia, Coll-Lladó, Clara, Webb, Paul Brian, Sakhrani, Dionne, Devlin, Robert H., García de la Serrana Castillo, Daniel
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2022
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de la UB
OAI Identifier:oai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/194311
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/194311
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Animals transgènics
Otòlits
Salmònids
Transgenic animals
Otoliths
Salmonidae
Descripción
Sumario:In fish otoliths, CaCO3 normally precipitates as aragonite, and more rarely as vaterite or calcite. A higher incidence of vaterite deposition in otoliths from aquaculture-reared fish has been reported and it is thought that high growth rates under farming conditions might promote its deposition. To test this hypothesis, otoliths from growth hormone (GH) transgenic coho salmon and non-transgenic fish of matching size were compared. Once morphometric parameters were normalized by animal length, we found that transgenic fish otoliths were smaller (−24%, −19%, −20% and −30% for length, width, perimeter and area, respectively; P<0.001) and rounder (−12%, +13.5%, +15% and −15.5% in circularity, form factor, roundness and ellipticity; P<0.001) than otoliths from non-transgenic fish of matching size. Interestingly, transgenic fish had smaller eyes (−30% eye diameter) and showed a strong correlation between eye and otolith size. We also found that the percentage of otoliths showing vaterite deposition was significantly smaller in transgenic fish (21-28%) than in non-transgenic fish (69%; P<0.001). Likewise, the area affected by vaterite deposition within individual otoliths was reduced in transgenic fish (21-26%) compared with non-transgenic fish (42.5%; P<0.001). Our results suggest that high growth rates per se are not sufficient to cause vaterite deposition in all cases, and that GH overexpression might have a protective role against vaterite deposition, a hypothesis that needs further investigation.