Identification of suitable source strains for disease and stress resistance for common carp (EUROCARP)

Background

The common carp is the third most important farmed freshwater fish species in the world.  Eastern European carp gene banks have provided the selective improvement of carp for intensive and semi-intensive pond culture in Europe and beyond.  Several serious disease problems threaten carp farming in many countries and urgent steps need to be taken to alleviate these risks by identifying strains, families and individual carp with enhanced stress and disease resistance response, as well as growth performance.

Objectives

EUROCARP aims to assess four representative Hungarian carp strains for increased resistance to stress, as well as bacterial and viral infection.  A multidisciplinary approach will:

• Combine data gathered through classical quantitative genetics, functional genomics, immunology and proteomics to identify strains, families and individual carp with different susceptibility to viral and bacterial infections
• Correlate levels of resistance with other performance traits (growth, pond survival).  Results will be used to assess genetic variation under bacterial and viral infection.
• Model EUROCARP data to identify optimal improvement for common carp strains worldwide

Policy development

• Techniques developed by EUROCARP will provide a sound scientific basis for management decisions affecting the livelihoods of carp farmers world-wide.
• EUROCARP will establish strains or families of carp resistant to two serious pathogens that can be used to underpin policies aimed at limiting the occurrence and intensity of losses due to disease outbreaks.
• The project will enable the EU and member states to take a lead in international efforts to control the spread of fatal fish diseases.
• Policies based on the establishing disease resistant strain of carp will help provide economic stability in a fishery sector of major significance across the EU.

Cefas contribution

• 100 families of carp produced from crosses of the 4 carp families will be assessed for their resistance to koi herpesvirus (KHV). 
• Further groups of the 5 most resistant strains and the 5 most sensitive strains to KHV, and the 5 most resistant and sensitive strains to Aeromonas hydrophila (selected by another partner in the project) will be exposed to KHV.
• Samples will be taken from the carp and sent to another partner for production of cDNA, and following inclusion in a carp microarray, will be used to establish carp gene expression patterns following infection.
• Samples will also be taken for identification of immune activities (potential markers) associated with increased or decreased resistance to KHV.
• Changes in the expression of proteins in the plasma of the fish that may be associated with increased or decreased resistance to KHV will be determined by proteomic methods.

Partners

This project involves 7 partners from 4 different countries.