Objectives: To accomplish stable expression, inheritance of transgenes and growth improvement in transgenic channel catfish, Ictalurus punctatus, and common carp, Cyprinus carpio, containing growth hormone (GH) genes, develop transgenic fish with all fish constructs, determine the relationships between copy number, expression and growth, determine the combined affect of selective breeding and gene transfer and assess environmental risk of transgenic fish. To develop mechanisms of triploidization for transgenic carp. Results: Performance of transgenic channel catfish was made uniform by selection. Growth of channel catfish and common carp was improved 40-50% more by combining gene transfer of GH genes with selection and crossbreeding than with either selection of crossbreeding. Growth improvement of transgenic catfish was not strongly correlated with copy number and expression levels. Progress was made in producting triploid transgenic common carp. Insertion of salmonid GH gene did not alter reproductive performance in channel catfish. Transgenic channel catfish grew no faster than controls when they had to forage on natural food and transgenic individuals were slightly more vulnerable to predation indicating that fitness of transgenic individuals in natural conditions is less than or equal to non-transgenic channel catfish. Contribution to Agriculture: These experiments are the first to demonstrate that transgenic fish can increase aquaculture production in the aquaculture production in the aquaculture environment. This research also demonstrated that maximum benefit of gene transfer in farmed fish is attained when combined with traditional selective breeding.
Expression and Inheritance of Growth Hormone Gene Constructs and Selective Breeding of Transgenic Farmed Fish