Atlantic salmon ( Salmo salar L.) genetics in the 21st century: taking leaps forward in aquaculture and biological understanding

Summary Atlantic salmon ( Salmo salar L.) is among the most iconic and economically important fish species and was the first member of Salmonidae to have a high‐quality reference genome assembly published. Advances in genomics have become increasingly central to the genetic improvement of farmed Atl...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Animal Genetics
Main Authors: Houston, R. D., Macqueen, D. J.
Other Authors: Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, Natural Environment Research Council, Norges Forskningsråd
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2018
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Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/age.12748
https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fage.12748
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/age.12748
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Summary:Summary Atlantic salmon ( Salmo salar L.) is among the most iconic and economically important fish species and was the first member of Salmonidae to have a high‐quality reference genome assembly published. Advances in genomics have become increasingly central to the genetic improvement of farmed Atlantic salmon as well as conservation of wild salmon stocks. The salmon genome has also been pivotal in shaping our understanding of the evolutionary and functional consequences arising from an ancestral whole‐genome duplication event characterising all Salmonidae members. Here, we provide a review of the current status of Atlantic salmon genetics and genomics, focussed on progress made from genome‐wide research aimed at improving aquaculture production and enhancing understanding of salmonid ecology, physiology and evolution. We present our views on the future direction of salmon genomics, including the role of emerging technologies (e.g. genome editing) in elucidating genetic features that underpin functional variation in traits of commercial and evolutionary importance.