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Infectious disease is a serious concern in both farmed and wild salmon. Given
the environment in which farmed fish are maintained, together with high stocking
densities and handling problems, disease poses a difficult challenge for aquaculture.
Innate immune mechanisms act as a first line of defence against infection, and
moreover, they may be more important, and possibly more sophisticated, in fish
than in mammals. Knowledge of the genes involved and of their regulation could
assist development of disease resistant fish, and of tools to monitor fish health
and welfare. Fish pose a particular problem in this latter respect, as signs
of disease are often cryptic. This, combined with high stocking densities, means
that the first indication of a problem may be tanks or cages containing very
large numbers of dead and moribund animals.
The ability of a fish to respond to disease pathogens and vaccination requires
correct activation of both the innate and acquired immune system. Stimulation
of the immune system involves both immediate and long term responses, many of
these responses are mediated by cytokines and other cellular signalling mechanisms.
For this part of the project cDNAs will be isolated from gill and head kidney
tissues following disease challenge. These two tissues have been chosen as they
represent potential site of infection (gill) and the major heamopoetic tissue
in teleost fish (head kidney). cDNA will be spotted onto the salmon microarray,
analysis of gene expression will use both in vivo and in vitro challenged samples.
Partners: University of Stirling, University of Aberdeen, Cardiff University
Site maintained by Sam Martin, University of Aberdeen