Mohd Iqbal Mir
Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, India
Title: Adaptive gene regulation in fishes of snow fed streams of northern Himalayas
Biography
Biography: Mohd Iqbal Mir
Abstract
Thermal tolerance determines the habitat selection, spatial distribution and migration of wild fish and affects the survival, growth, reproduction and productivity of farmed fish. Fin fishes in the wild are regularly subjected to low temperature due to ensuing climate changes leading to freezing water temperature had driven major decline of cold water fishes. The adaptation of fishes to freezing temperature is the result of long term evolution. Adaptive changes in fishes in particular for low temperature, the key evolutionary innovations, anti-freezing glycoproteins, enzyme-protein structures, cold efficient microtubule assembly, cold adapted protein translocation and elevated mitochondrial densities. The low temperatures which have been shown to cause loss of major histocompatibility receptor expression in common carp and loss of these critical viral recognization proteins may provide one mechanism of increased frequency of fish disease at low temperature. The diversified expression of cold resistant genes (beta-2-microglobins, GLUT-4, GLUT-2, cGPDH, Glycerol Kinase and Acyle CoA synthetase) in rainbow trout, Common carp and schizothoracids was studied. The expression of beta-2 microglobin in rainbow trout and schizothoracids do not decrease after 10-15 days at temperature as low as 2 oC. Reverse transcriptase (RT-PCR) indicated that beta-2 microglobin transcription was maintained in both tissue and peripheral blood leucocytes. The presence of beta 2(m) level in rainbow trout and schizothoracids justifies the presence of alternative mode of immune gene regulation than IMCs allowing them to maintain viral recognization machinery at low temperature. Based on gene function analysis of cold induced gene, protein localization and protein transport were the most highly represented biological process. Our study greatly contribute to the identification of cold responsive genes in different tissues at different temperature will aid in deciphering the genetic basis of ecological and environmental adaptation in this species. In the recent years fisheries has taken the industrial recourse as fishes being the easily accessible source of food, being rich in proteins, carbohydrates and vitamins.