LIFE-BASEL, cilt.10, sa.7, 2020 (SCI-Expanded)
The principle aim of this study is to elucidate the relationship between the fatty acid desaturase 2 gene (fads2) expression pattern in peripheral blood cells (PBCs) and liver of gilthead seabream (GSB),Sparus auratabroodstock in order to determine the possible use offads2expression as a potential biomarker for the selection of broodstock. This selection could be utilized for breeding programs aiming to improve reproduction, health, and nutritional status. Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT)-tagged GSB broodstock (Male-1.22 +/- 0.20 kg; 44.8 +/- 2 cm and female-2.36 +/- 0.64 kg; 55.1 cm) were fed a diet containing low levels of fish meal and fish oil (EPA 2.5; DHA 1.7 and n-3 LC-PUFA 4.6% TFA) for one month. After the feeding period,fads2expression in PBCs and liver of both male and female broodstock were highly significantly correlated (r = 0.89;p< 0.001). Additionally, in male broodstock, liverfads2expression was significantly correlated (p< 0.05) to liver contents in 16:0 (r = 0.95;p= 0.04) and total saturates (r = 0.97;p= 0.03) as well as to 20:3n-6/20:2n-6 (r = 0.98;p= 0.02) a Fads2 product/precursor ratio. Overall, we found a positive and significant correlation betweenfads2expression levels in the PBCs and liver of GSB broodstock. PBCsfads2expression levels indicate a strong potential for utilization as a non-invasive method to select animals having increased fatty acid bioconversion capability, better able to deal with diets free of fish meal and fish oil.