Over $1 million allocated to new Integrative Biology project
On Oct. 15, Minister of Industry, Science, and Technology Ed Holder announced that The University of Guelph-led Salmon Genome Project would receive almost $1.2 million from Genome Canada. The project, led by Prof. Elizabeth Boulding, from the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of Guelph, will be lead in conjunction with Genome Atlantic/Ontario Genomics Institute.
Boulding’s project is one of 12 that were funded by Genome Canada’s Genomic Applications Partnership Program (GAPP). The purpose of GAPP is to fund research and development projects that “address real world challenge and opportunities as identified by industry, government, not-for-profits, and other [groups associated with] genomics research.”
The pre-proposal for the grant was completed in June 2013, and after a considerable amount of work, telephone conferencing, and an oral presentation, Boulding’s team was invited to submit a final presentation in Aug. 2013.
“We unofficially heard that we were funded just before Christmas 2013, but were not permitted to announce anything until after [Ed Holder’s] announcement on Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2014.”
Boulding was quick to point out the distinction between her team’s research, and the international team that sequenced the Atlantic salmon genome.
“What we are doing is using a Norwegian Affymetrix chip with 220,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that [make] use of the information in the publically available DNA sequences from the Atlantic salmon genome project,” explained Boulding.
“This will allow [us] to use the SNP molecular markers along the genome as sign posts to determine whether a fish in a particular family is likely to be disease resistant.”
In comparison, the International Cooperation to Sequence the Atlantic Salmon Genome (ICSASG) announced their success in completely mapping out the salmon genome on June 10, 2014.
“[Our] group of academic and industry researchers have previously collaborated on [Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada] (NSERC) grants on Atlantic salmon, along with some other academic and government partners,” said Boulding.
“My initial interest was to work on the ecological genomics of wild Atlantic salmon, and how different populations from different rivers became adapted to different environments.”
According to Boulding, understanding how different populations adapt to their respective environments is integral in understanding how strains are resistant to disease.
“Fish that are more disease-resistant will require less medication,” explained Boulding a University of Guelph news release. “They will also be less likely to become infected from wild fish or transmit parasites or diseases back to wild salmon.”
Boulding, along with professor emeritus Larry Schaeffer, from the Department of Animal and Poultry Science, will work with Cooke Aquaculture Inc. and its farming division, Kelly Cove Salmon Ltd.
“As a result [of all of the research], I became interested in developing strains of Atlantic salmon for Cooke Aquaculture that are resistant to disease,” said Boulding. “This improves the economics of the industry and also helps protect wild fish.”
Cooke Aquaculture employs 1,700 people in Atlantic Canada, and will be providing matching funds for the project alongside other granting agencies.
“We hope to be able to incorporate this new genomic technology into our current breeding program, and thereby increase our company’s ability to compete internationally,” concluded Jake Elliott, vice-president, freshwater and technical operations, and head of Cooke Aquaculture’s breeding program in a University of Guelph news release.