Abstract
Background Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) is the most valuable farmed fish globally and there is much interest in optimizing its genetics and conditions for growth and feed efficiency. Also, marine feed ingredients must be replaced to meet global demand with challenges for fish health and sus- tainability. Metabolic models can address this by connecting genomes to metabolism, which is what converts nutrients in the feed to energy and biomass, but they are currently not available for major aquaculture species such as salmon.
Results We present SALARECON, a metabolic model that links the Atlantic salmon genome to metabolic fluxes and growth. It performs well in standardized tests and reflects expected metabolic (in)capabilities. We show that it can explain observed growth under hypoxia in terms of metabolic fluxes and apply it to aquaculture by simulating growth with commercial feed ingredients. Predicted feed efficiencies and limiting amino acids agree with data, and the model suggests that marine feed efficiency can be achieved by supplementing a few amino acids to plant- and insect-based feeds.
Conclusion SALARECON is a high-quality model that makes it possible to simulate Atlantic salmon metabolism and growth from the genome. It can explain Atlantic salmon physiology and address key challenges in aquaculture.
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.