TY - JOUR
T1 - On the safety of RNAi usage in aquaculture
T2 - The case of all-male prawn stocks generated through manipulation of the insulin-like androgenic gland hormone
AU - Lezer, Yaara
AU - Aflalo, Eliahu D.
AU - Manor, Rivka
AU - Sharabi, Omri
AU - Abilevich, Lihie Katzir
AU - Sagi, Amir
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Prof. Ofer Ovadia for his help with the statistical analysis, and Ms. Ayana Benet-Perlberg and her team at the Israel Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Dor Research Center, for housing and maintaining the experimental prawns. This study was supported in part by the United States–Israel Binational Agricultural Research and Development Fund (BARD, Grant No. IS-4493-12 ), the National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev (NIBN), and Tiran Shipping, Ltd .
Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2015/1/1
Y1 - 2015/1/1
N2 - The recent introduction of RNA interference (RNAi) based biotechnology in aquaculture has aroused public awareness regarding safety aspects related to the use of such temporal transcript manipulation. In the present study, we demonstrate use of this biotechnology in large-scale production of all-male freshwater prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii, relying on a two-phased approach. First, the insulin-like androgenic gland hormone (. Mr-IAG) was silenced by dsRNA injections, causing sex-reversal of males into 'neo-females' (genetic males with female phenotype, with 86% success in this study). The next step involved mating the neo-females with normal males to produce all-male progeny. The administered exogenous dsRNA was fully cleared from the prawn's tissues after 7. days. Gene silencing through ds. Mr-IAG appeared to be temporary, with decay seen over time and nearly full expression of Mr-IAG (~. 82%) being restored after 28. days. Assessment of reproduction and fecundity in normal females versus neo-females revealed that in both groups, ~. 80% of the prawns were in a reproductive state and no significant difference was found in their reproductive output, either in terms of brood mass or number. Population structure, as indicated by the normal occurrence of male morphotypes, in both mixed-sex and all-male populations was examined in terms of weight and morphotype frequency distribution. The final harvest and marketing of the all-male prawn offspring occur about 19. months, i.e., one generation after the actual RNAi procedure. Thus, on top of the aquaculture yield advantage, the use of such RNAi procedure in crustacean aquaculture seems to be safe due to its temporary nature.
AB - The recent introduction of RNA interference (RNAi) based biotechnology in aquaculture has aroused public awareness regarding safety aspects related to the use of such temporal transcript manipulation. In the present study, we demonstrate use of this biotechnology in large-scale production of all-male freshwater prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii, relying on a two-phased approach. First, the insulin-like androgenic gland hormone (. Mr-IAG) was silenced by dsRNA injections, causing sex-reversal of males into 'neo-females' (genetic males with female phenotype, with 86% success in this study). The next step involved mating the neo-females with normal males to produce all-male progeny. The administered exogenous dsRNA was fully cleared from the prawn's tissues after 7. days. Gene silencing through ds. Mr-IAG appeared to be temporary, with decay seen over time and nearly full expression of Mr-IAG (~. 82%) being restored after 28. days. Assessment of reproduction and fecundity in normal females versus neo-females revealed that in both groups, ~. 80% of the prawns were in a reproductive state and no significant difference was found in their reproductive output, either in terms of brood mass or number. Population structure, as indicated by the normal occurrence of male morphotypes, in both mixed-sex and all-male populations was examined in terms of weight and morphotype frequency distribution. The final harvest and marketing of the all-male prawn offspring occur about 19. months, i.e., one generation after the actual RNAi procedure. Thus, on top of the aquaculture yield advantage, the use of such RNAi procedure in crustacean aquaculture seems to be safe due to its temporary nature.
KW - Gene silencing
KW - Insulin-like androgenic gland hormone
KW - Macrobrachium rosenbergii
KW - Monosex culture
KW - RNA interference
KW - Sex reversal
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84908537547&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.aquaculture.2014.09.040
DO - 10.1016/j.aquaculture.2014.09.040
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84908537547
SN - 0044-8486
VL - 435
SP - 157
EP - 166
JO - Aquaculture
JF - Aquaculture
ER -