EST projects in aquaculture: sea bass, red tuna and perch

Abstract

The modern technologies used in aquaculture may improve fish production and quality and, at the same time, reduce environmental impact with benefits on the public perception of the industry. To be economically profitable, these modern technologies request an increase of rearing density that, however, could affect fish welfare (Vazzana et al., 2002). Therefore, beside the traditional markers, it may be important to look for alternative parameters such as molecular biomarkers (Gornati et al., 2004; Ryan and Hightower, 1996). In this view, genomic strategies are revolutionizing scientific research also in the understanding of fish physiology and gene evolution; this is also due to the relatively easiness to isolate novel and homologous genes using public databases (Parrington and Covard, 2002).

Keywords

• welfare, cDNA library, molecular biology