About the project

The PETRI-FISH project will develop methods and models that have real potential to reduce the number of fish used in experimental testing by replacing live disease challenge testing with novel in vitro testing approaches. CRISPR-screening is an extremely powerful tool for unbiased discovery of phenotype relevant genes.

The primary goal of this work is to apply CRISPR-screening to reduce live fish testing and to identify genes and pathways involved in Infectious Salmon Anemia Virus (ISAV) disease resistance and susceptibility in Atlantic salmon.

Applying such a screening approach to aquaculture offers a range of benefits compared to current strategies to improve disease resistance, and represents an exciting potential development for the field.

• Background

  The PETRI-FISH project responds to the call for research projects by The Norwegian Seafood Research Fund (FHF) on "Development of 3R experimental models and methodology in the aquaculture industry".

  Farmed Atlantic salmon is a rapidly growing sector of the aquaculture industry, and market demand is expected to increase in the short- and long-term future. For Norway this represents a particularly important industry, with more than half of the global production coming from our fjords and ocean areas.

  One major challenge for aquaculture industry today involves keeping farmed fish healthy and disease-free. Viral disease outbreaks such as that caused by ISAV are major current concerns for industry, and improving disease resistance would be of enormous benefit to the health and well-being of farmed fish.

  The most common practice for improving disease resistance in aquaculture is challenge testing. This uses live fish to help detect the genes promoting resistance to common infectious agents, and using that information for targeted breeding of more resistant offspring. However, there are several problems that make challenge testing an unsuitable long-term solution, most prominently those associated with animal welfare. This necessitates alternative methods to identify the genes promoting disease resistance that don't involve using live fish.

• Objectives

  We will build upon our existing experience performing CRISPR-screening in livestock and apply and adapt this to salmonids including Atlantic salmon to answer the following questions:

  • Which salmonid cells exist or can be created that can be used for in vitro testing?
  • How can cells be mass transduced efficiently?
  • What are the ideal parameters when developing CRISPR-screening libraries?
  • Which genes or pathways are involved in ISAV resistance and susceptibility in salmonids?
• Paticipants

  NMBU patricipants

  External participants

  Jacob Torgersen, Aquagen