The demand for fish, one of the major sources of high-quality protein, is rising globally, while overfishing and climate change put severe pressure on fish stocks. Hence, aquaculture has become the fastest growing food sector of the last decades. In aquaculture, selective breeding programmes aim to optimize fish traits, such as growth rate and disease resistance, for a more profitable production. However, the current selective breeding programmes rely exclusively on traditional genetic markers for favourable selection and do not consider important epigenetic marks (i.e. DNA methylation and hydroxymethylation) and non-coding RNAs (e.g. miRNAs and circRNAs) as influential factors on the variability of phenotypic traits. To date, no commercial tools exist that evaluate epigenetic markers for aquaculture. EPISELECT aimed to fulfil this gap by 1) Showing that combined assessment of newly identified circRNA variants with other key epigenetic markers enables highly accurate growth prediction in Nile tilapia; 2) Developing an IPR strategy; 3) Performing a targeted market analysis and stakeholder engagement to ensure commercial feasibility.
EPISELECT will impact the aquaculture industry, since it adds epigenetic management as another dimension beyond the management of genetic diversity for improving fish yields. Furthermore, epigenetic selection methods have the potential to be extended to other traits (e.g. disease resistance) and other fish species of commercial importance. The EPISELECT multi-panel of markers can be used to select fish with the highest growth potential, which would have a positive societal impact by reducing the environmental footprint of aquaculture through more efficient utilization of natural resources.
