Abstract
In this project behavioural and field experiments are integrated with analyses of oxidative stress and biological ageing, and telomere length is evaluated as a molecular fitness indicator in fish. We use brown trout and coho salmon as model species to address the following aims: (1) to reveal links between nutritional stress, compensatory growth, oxidative stress and ageing processes in the wild. (2) to evaluate telomere length as a molecular indicator of social status and fitness. (3) to investigate how oxidative stress and ageing in growth hormone transgenic salmon are influenced by environmental conditions. The project is of general importance because it evaluates new molecular tools that can be used as general indicators of stress, ageing and fitness in fish, for example when exposed to natural and human-induced environmental variation. In addition, the project can provide molecular fitness markers for ecological risk assessment of transgenic salmon. The project will be carried out in collaboration with internationally recognized researchers from GU and Canada. The molecular analyses will be conducted by Dr Angela Pauliny (GU), who recently developed methods for analysing telomere length in fish. Analyses of oxidative stress will be conducted by the fish toxicology group led by Prof. Lars Förlin (GU). The work on transgenic salmon will be carried out in collaboration with Prof. Robert Devlin at the Centre of Aquaculture and Environmental Research in Vancouver, Canada.
Sweden