Study: Fishing Induces Gene Expression Changes

Harvesting lab-raised zebrafish based on their size led to differences in the activity of more than 4,000 genes, as well as changes in allele frequencies of those genes, in the fish that remained.

| 2 min read

Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
2:00
Share

FLICKR, NICHDA laboratory experiment simulating the harvesting that takes place in commercial fisheries—essentially, taking out fish of a certain size—resulted in widespread genetic changes to the population.

During each generation of a zebrafish colony, University of Turku postdoc Silva Uusi-Heikkilä and her colleagues removed the largest 75 percent of the population. After just five generations, the researchers allowed the population to recover, then measured levels of gene expression in the animals. They found significant differences in the activity of thousands of genes.

“Removing the largest individuals from the experimentally exploited populations induced differences in the expression of more than 4,000 genes after five generations of size-selective harvesting,” Uusi-Heikkilä said in an Academy of Finland press release. “We also demonstrate significant allele frequency changes in genes that were differentially expressed,” she and her coauthors added in their report, published last week (May 13) in Molecular Ecology.

Overall, the changes in gene expression patterns ...

Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

The Scientist Logo
Receive full access to more than 35 years of archives, as well as TS Digest, digital editions of The Scientist, feature stories, and much more!
Already a member? Login Here

Keywords

Meet the Author

  • Jef Akst

    Jef Akst was managing editor of The Scientist, where she started as an intern in 2009 after receiving a master’s degree from Indiana University in April 2009 studying the mating behavior of seahorses.
Share
3D illustration of a gold lipid nanoparticle with pink nucleic acid inside of it. Purple and teal spikes stick out from the lipid bilayer representing polyethylene glycol.
February 2025, Issue 1

A Nanoparticle Delivery System for Gene Therapy

A reimagined lipid vehicle for nucleic acids could overcome the limitations of current vectors.

View this Issue
Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Lonza
An illustration of animal and tree silhouettes.

From Water Bears to Grizzly Bears: Unusual Animal Models

Taconic Biosciences
Sex Differences in Neurological Research

Sex Differences in Neurological Research

bit.bio logo
New Frontiers in Vaccine Development

New Frontiers in Vaccine Development

Sino

Products

Tecan Logo

Tecan introduces Veya: bringing digital, scalable automation to labs worldwide

Explore a Concise Guide to Optimizing Viral Transduction

A Visual Guide to Lentiviral Gene Delivery

Takara Bio
Inventia Life Science

Inventia Life Science Launches RASTRUM™ Allegro to Revolutionize High-Throughput 3D Cell Culture for Drug Discovery and Disease Research

An illustration of differently shaped viruses.

Detecting Novel Viruses Using a Comprehensive Enrichment Panel

Twist Bio