DNA 'fin-printing' project for salmon launched – Fishupdate.com

DNA ‘fin-printing’ project for salmon launched Published:  20 November, 2007

A NEW effort, just launched by the University of Washington’s School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences in America, is looking to gather genetic information for thousands of Pacific Rim salmon populations, in order to create open-access databases for managers, treaty-makers and scientists.

Jim and Lisa Seeb, known for their groundbreaking work identifying salmon populations using genetic markers, joined the university this year as research professors.

Genetic markers are key bits of a fish’s DNA that, when compared to the same spots on the DNA of other fish, can reveal if they are from the same population or not.

They are also being employed to study the human genome. The process, sometimes referred to as DNA fingerprinting in humans, could be called DNA “fin-printing” for fish when a bit of tissue from a fin is used for the analysis.

Prior to genetic markers, fisheries scientists primarily relied on capturing young fish, putting metal or plastic tags on them and then releasing them in hopes they would be caught by a fisherman willing to return the tags to scientists.

Discerning which rivers and lakes salmon came from can be crucial when, for instance, countries negotiate fishing agreements or local managers decide if they should curtail fishing because high numbers of a vulnerable population are found to be part of a run.

“Using genetic markers is one of the most rapidly growing fields in fisheries today,” Jim Seeb says. Current UW faculty are already leaders in using genetic markers to understand where marine fish and shellfish, such as cod, abalone and salmon, spend their lives, how they adapt to their environments and handle effects of human activities and environmental change.

Groups including state and federal agencies in the United States as well as agencies in Russia, Canada and Japan have been developing baseline genetic information for more than 20 years, but coordinating and merging data has been an ongoing challenge.

The Seebs, who’ve been working for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, are considered leaders in using single nucleotide polymorphism markers, referred to as SNPs and pronounced “snips.” Identified by chemically treating a small bit of tissue, SNPs are differences along strands of DNA that roughly match among members of a single population, but differ between populations. Salmon hatched in a certain drainage, for example, will share a SNP profile different from that of salmon hatched in other drainages.

A big key to successful databases, the Seebs say, is using a genetic marker that will ensure that instruments in North America and Asia can tell scientists in each place that they are looking at fish from the same population. Each SNP involves just a duo of the chemicals that make up the chains of DNA in animals. This makes using SNPS simpler and easier to standardize than other genetic markers such as microsatellite markers that involve longer portions of DNA.

The UW School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences already has created a large database on the ranges of high-seas salmon from physical tagging efforts and the new programme will work closely with the school’s existing High Seas Salmon Project. The school also has a wealth of salmon and environmental data collected as part of its Alaskan Salmon Programme, established 60 years ago before Alaska was even a state.

www.fishupdate.com is published by Special Publications. Special Publications also publish FISHupdate magazine, Fish Farmer, the Fish Industry Yearbook, the Scottish Seafood Processors Federation Diary, the Fish Farmer Handbook and a range of wallplanners.