RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 SALARECON connects the Atlantic salmon genome to growth and feed efficiency
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2021.06.03.446971
DO 10.1101/2021.06.03.446971
A1 Maksim Zakhartsev
A1 Filip Rotnes
A1 Marie Gulla
A1 Ove Øyås
A1 Jesse C. J. van Dam
A1 Maria Suarez-Diez
A1 Fabian Grammes
A1 Róbert Anton HafÞórsson
A1 Wout van Helvoirt
A1 Jasper J. Koehorst
A1 Peter J. Schaap
A1 Yang Jin
A1 Liv Torunn Mydland
A1 Arne B. Gjuvsland
A1 Simen R. Sandve
A1 Vitor A. P. Martins dos Santos
A1 Jon Olav Vik
YR 2021
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/06/04/2021.06.03.446971.abstract
AB 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 StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.