Heritable variation in swimming performance in Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and negative genetic correlations with growth and harvest weight

Mengistu, Samuel Bekele; Palstra, Arjan P.; Mulder, Henk; Benzie, John A. H.; Trinh, Trong Quoc; Roozeboom, C.; Komen, Hans

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-90418-w

Cited by 14 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Genetic covariance might be expected as the result of a fitness tradeoff between growth and swimming performance (Billerbeck et al, 2001 ; Ghalambor, 2003 ), or selection on groups of traits as a dispersal syndrome: e.g., in Anolis lizards (Calsbeek & Irschick, 2007 ). However, our result generally agrees with other quantitative genetic studies that have sought to measure a genetic relationship between size and/or growth and swimming speed in young aquatic and marine organisms (Hilbish et al, 1999 ; Watkins & McPeek, 2006 but see Mengistu et al, 2021 for a counterexample in aquacultured Nile tilapia). The lack of phenotypic covariance measured in our study might seem to be at odds with the robust positive relationship between size and swimming speed that has been established for larval fishes (Leis, 2010 ).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Heritability of dispersal‐related larval traits in the clown anemonefish Amphiprion percula

Schlatter

Klawon

Webb

et al. 2022

Ecology and Evolution

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A major goal of marine ecology is to identify the drivers of variation in larval dispersal. Larval traits are emerging as an important potential source of variation in dispersal outcomes, but little is known about how the evolution of these traits might shape dispersal patterns. Here, we consider the potential for adaptive evolution in two possibly dispersal‐related traits by quantifying the heritability of larval size and swimming speed in the clown anemonefish ( Amphiprion percula ). Using a laboratory population of wild‐caught A. percula , we measured the size and swimming speed of larvae from 24 half‐sibling families. Phenotypic variance was partitioned into genetic and environmental components using a linear mixed‐effects model. Importantly, by including half‐siblings in the breeding design, we ensured that our estimates of genetic variance do not include nonheritable effects shared by clutches of full‐siblings, which could lead to significant overestimates of heritability. We find unequivocal evidence for the heritability of larval body size (estimated between 0.21 and 0.34) and equivocal evidence for the heritability of swimming speed (between 0.05 and 0.19 depending on the choice of prior). From a methodological perspective, this work demonstrates the importance of evaluating sensitivity to prior distribution in Bayesian analysis. From a biological perspective, it advances our understanding of potential dispersal‐related larval traits by quantifying the extent to which they can be inherited and thus have the potential for adaptive evolution.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Heritability of dispersal‐related larval traits in the clown anemonefish Amphiprion percula

Schlatter

Klawon

Webb

et al. 2022

Ecology and Evolution

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“…In many fishes, mortality in larval and juvenile stages is extremely size selective (Perez and Munch, 2010) suggesting that TGP should increase offspring survival to maturity. However, we recognize that rapid juvenile growth may have tradeoffs with other aspects of performance in fishes, such as swimming speed, behavioral aggression, and somatic energy storage (Schultz and Conover, 1997;dos Santos Schmidt et al, 2021;Mengistu et al, 2021;Monnet et al, 2021). In light of possible growth-fecundity trade-offs, we also examined the impacts of TGP on GSI.…”

Section: Growth Rate 21 Daysmentioning

confidence: 99%

Separating Paternal and Maternal Contributions to Thermal Transgenerational Plasticity

2021

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Climate change is rapidly altering the thermal environment in terrestrial and aquatic systems. Transgenerational thermal plasticity (TGP) – which occurs when the temperatures experienced by the parental generation prior to the fertilization of gametes results in a change in offspring reaction norms – may mitigate the effects of climate change. Although “maternal effects” have been widely studied, relatively little is known about TGP effects in vertebrates, particularly paternal contributions. We used artificial fertilization to cross sheepshead minnow (Cyprinodon variegatus) parents exposed to either low (26°C) or high (32°C) temperatures and measured growth rates of the offspring over the first 8 weeks of life at both low and high temperatures. A linear mixed effects model was employed to quantify the effects of maternal, paternal, and offspring temperatures on offspring growth and fecundity. We found that the offspring growth rate up to 63 days post-hatch was affected by both the temperature they experienced directly and parental temperatures prior to fertilization. Growth was lowest when neither parents’ temperature matched the offspring temperature, indicating a strong transgenerational effect. Notably, offspring growth was highest when all three (offspring, sire, and dam) temperatures matched [although the three-way interaction was found to be marginally non-significant (P = 0.155)], suggesting that TGP effects were additive across significant sire-offspring (P < 0.001) and dam-offspring interactions (P < 0.001). Transgenerational effects on fecundity (GSI) were suggestive for both maternal and paternal effects, but not significant. The finding that thermal TGP is contributed by both parents strongly suggests that it has an epigenetic basis.

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“…It therefore is reasonable to state that Ucrit is strongly positively correlated to fitness. A previous study from our group (Mengistu et al, 2021) based on pedigree information, showed the existence of additive genetic variance for Ucrit in Nile tilapia, and a favorable genetic correlation between Ucrit and body weight, standard length, height and surface area at swimming test.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 76%

“…The fish were acclimatized for one hour in the swimming flume without flow. The critical swimming test was executed using a Brett type rectangular oval shape raceway with a swimming compartment on one side and a propellor for inducing flow on the other side as described by Mengistu et al (2021). In short, the swim flume measured 230 cm in length and 90 cm in width with a water depth of 40 cm, and was equipped with a Minn Kota Terrova 80 lbs propeller.…”

Section: Experimental Design and Traits Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Genomic architecture of selection for adaptation to challenging environments in aquaculture

Yu¹

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Yu, X. (2022). Genomic architecture of selection for adaptation to challenging environments in Aquaculture. PhD thesis, Wageningen University and Research, the Netherlands.Aquaculture, including freshwater and marine farming, has been important for global fish production during the past few decades. However, climate change presents a major risk threatening both quality and quantity of aquaculture production. The environmental stressors in aquaculture resulting from climate change, are temperature rise, salinity changes, sea level rise, acidification and changes of other chemical properties and changes of oxygen levels. Although a reasonable genetic gain can be achieved by selective breeding, this genetic response may not be enough to adapt fish species to the effects of climate change. Markerassisted selection focusing on specific genes or alleles that allow fish to cope with these changes would allow more rapid adaptation of fish to these new environments. In this thesis, I focused on three essential environmental stressorsdissolved oxygen, salinity and temperature as primarily determined in aquaculture production. The main objective is to provide insight in the genomic architecture underlying the mechanism of adaptation to challenging environments of aquaculture species under farming conditions. First, I determined candidate QTL associated with phenotypic variation during adaptation to hypoxia or normoxia. I identified overrepresented pathways that could explain the genetic regulation of hypoxia on growth. To identify fish with better hypoxia tolerance and growth under a hypoxic environment, I quantified the genetic correlations between an indicator trait for hypoxia tolerance (critical swimming performance) and growth. Moreover, the genomic architecture associated with swimming performance was demonstrated, while the effect of significant QTLs on growth was estimated. Beyond applying genome-wide association studies, I used selection signatures to identify QTLs and genes contributing to salinity tolerance. In addition, I also compared the genome of the saline-tolerant and highly productive tilapia "Sukamandi", that was developed by the aquaculture research institute in Indonesia, to that of blue tilapia and Nile tilapia, to identify the QTLs contributing to salinity tolerance. Finally, I investigated QTLs associated with growth-related traits and organ weights at two distinct commercial Mediterranean product sites differing in temperature (farms in Spain and Greece). Overall, this thesis considerably adds to insight into how fish adapt to challenging environments, which will aid marker-assisted selection for improved resilience of aquaculture species under climate change. ContentsChapter 1 General introductionChapter 2 Genome-wide association analysis of adaptation to oxygen stress in Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) Chapter 3Quantitative trait loci controlling swimming performance and their effect on growth in Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus)Chapter 4 Genomic analysis of a Nile tilapia strain selected...

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Heritable variation in swimming performance in Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and negative genetic correlations with growth and harvest weight

Cited by 14 publications

References 31 publications

Heritability of dispersal‐related larval traits in the clown anemonefish Amphiprion percula

Heritability of dispersal‐related larval traits in the clown anemonefish Amphiprion percula

Separating Paternal and Maternal Contributions to Thermal Transgenerational Plasticity

Genomic architecture of selection for adaptation to challenging environments in aquaculture

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