Plant & Animal Genomes XI Conference Plant & Animal Genomes XI ConferenceJanuary 11-15, 2003
Town & Country Convention Center
San Diego, CA
Workshop: Aquaculture
Work at the interface of population and evolutionary genetics on the one hand, and genomics on the other, gives rise to an integrative field termed environmental genomics. Long-standing questions of population genetics can be addressed using the experimental designs and tools of genomics, such as quantitative trait locus mapping and microarray screening techniques. Such questions include identification of molecular mechanisms by which animals respond to stress or to environmental cues and identification of fitness-related genes. At the population genetic level, a key question is how the genetic composition of a population changes in response to selection pressures, such as abiotic environmental stressors, disease, or introgression of genes from outside the population. Considerable controversy attends the potential population genetic impacts of interbreeding of selectively bred, interspecific hybrid, and transgenic stocks with indigenous populations. In particular, the prospect of commercial production of transgenic salmon, tilapia, and carp raises controversy regarding potential genetic impacts. The fitness of transgenics is debated using empirical experimentation and models of single and multiple genes on net fitness. Results tend to support a high level of concern regarding impacts of transgenic stocks on natural populations. Application of the experimental designs and tools of genomics can yield new inferences on the impacts of transgenic fishes in particular, and of aquaculture and fisheries management practices more generally, on native stocks. Advances in understanding of genomics will allow aquaculturists and fisheries managers to better understand and minimize potential population-level impacts of their activities.