Life Sciences & Biotechnology
Title : | Modulation of Somatostatin gene in Indian major carp Labeo rohita to elevated growth rate and feeding efficiency |
Area of research : | Life Sciences & Biotechnology |
Principal Investigator : | Dr. Anindya Sundar Barman, College Of Fisheries, Tripura |
Timeline Start Year : | 2023 |
Timeline End Year : | 2026 |
Contact info : | barman.anindya@gmail.com |
Equipments : | "FRP tank and accessories
Micromanupulator with flourscence attachment microscope" |
Details
Executive Summary : | North eastern region of India is blessed with vast aquatic resources but the productivity of cultured fishes is very low in this region due to various factors including slow growth rate. Per capita fish consumption is highest if NE region of India. So to meet the demand of local people, NER import 90,000 tons of fish from outside the region. Labeo rohita is one of the member of Indian major carps (constitute 35% of the total Indian major carp production) and represent an economically important and major inland cultured species in the country including NER region with high consumer preference. But low growth rate of Labeo rohita in NER water bodies increase the time and production cost which ultimately cause the economic loss to the fish farmers. Enhancing the growth, muscle mass and feed utilization of economically important fish species has been the goal of producers and scientists for decades. Somatostatin, known as growth hormone-inhibiting hormone (GHIH) is well established as primary inhibitor of growth hormone (GH) release and known to be involved in regulation of energy allocation, digestion and metabolism in vertebrates including fishes (Nelson & Sheridan 2006). Suppression of SS cause an increase in synthesis and release of GH and binding of GH to its receptors stimulates insulin like growth factor-I (IGF-I) synthesis and release which, in turn, binds the IGF-I receptor to induce an enhanced growth response (Wood et al 2005). All these evidences support the notion that somatostatin (SS) specifically functions as a negative growth factor that inhibit GH secretion. Therefore, suppression of somatostatin (SS) expression may contribute to elevated growth & feed efficiency. In view of the above, in present study recently identified gene editing technology, called CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced palindromic repeats)/Cas9 system, to edit the SS gene of Labeo rohita to improve growth & feed efficiency. The CRISPR/Cas9 system was identified in bacteria & archaea (Horvath & Barrangou, 2010), CRISPR loci incorporates foreign DNA, this DNA is then synthesized into short CRISPR RNAs (crRNA) which bind to a trans-activating RNA (tracrRNA) & to foreign DNA catalyzing cleavage & destruction by recruiting the RNA-guided DNA nuclease Cas9 In proposed study, attempt will be made to create specifically induced bi-allelic mutations in SS genes in Labeo rohita, using CRISPR/Cas9 system to improve growth & feed efficiency. Characterization of resulting strains for growth rate & food efficiency will be performed to measure the effect of SS mutation. Using this approach we predict that we will be able to edit the genome of Labeo rohita to produce a commercial fish strain with improved growth & feed efficiency which was previously attempted unsuccessfully by many researchers using various techniques. |
Total Budget (INR): | 48,31,332 |
Organizations involved