COS 132-3 - Developing the Stress Transcriptional Profiling Chip (STP-Chip): a suite of quantitative gene expression assays to assess fish health and environmental coping capacity

Background/Question/Methods

Freshwater fish resources (commercial, recreational and Indigenous fishing sectors) contribute to Canada’s economy both directly (e.g., economic yield and food security, tourisms) and indirectly (e.g., “ecosystem services”). Yet Canadian freshwater fish species are under threat with various stressors (e.g., habitat disruption, invasive species, climate change). Understanding the health status and coping capacity of fish populations and species is therefore crucial as fish face the need for rapid adaptation to increasing stressors. Although the diversity of genomic tools to assess the health and condition of fish has expanded greatly over the past few decades, most approaches are still limited, and rely on basic assays. Thus, there is a need for genomic tools that can address a broad range of biotic responses to multiple stressors (e.g., immune, stress, growth, metabolism, thermal, endocrine, osmoregulatory, and contaminant response). Here, we are exploring new ground in biomarker suites by developing a panel of “universal” quantitative PCR (qPCR) assays for use in a high-throughput nanofluidic OpenArray Stress Transcriptional Profiling Chip (STP-Chip) capable of simultaneous qPCR at multiple gene loci.

Results/Conclusions

We are developing, optimizing, and calibrating qPCR assays for the 112 multiple stressors genes using cDNA from multiple populations of 46 target freshwater fish species, and printing nanofluidic STP-Chips. This STP-chip can be used in the framework of reducing abiotic and biotic stress in fish, improving fish health through more accurate diagnostic tests for disease, and adapting to accelerated climate change, initially in Canada (regionally), but ultimately globally. Our genomic tools will be game changers for freshwater fisheries management and culture. Our outlined tools are clearly of relevance to ESA-CSEE 2022 meeting theme “A Change Is Gonna Come”, and its diverse audience from Ecological Application, Tools and Techniques (e.g., genetics and molecular techniques), and Conservation Ecology and Extinction.