Environmental Biology of Fishes

, Volume 99, Issue 12, pp 975–981 | Cite as

Maternal effects in the inheritance of cold tolerance in blue tilapia (Oreochromis aureus)

  • Tali Nitzan
  • Tatiana Slosman
  • Dina Gutkovich
  • Joel I. Weller
  • Gideon Hulata
  • Tatyana Zak
  • Ayana Benet
  • Avner Cnaani
Article
First Online:
Received:
Accepted:

Abstract

In accordance with their tropical origin, the optimal water temperature for most tilapia species is between 25 and 28 °C. The lethal temperature varies as a function of environmental effects, individual fish histories and genetic effects; however, the genetic basis of cold tolerance in tilapia has not been investigated in detail. Blue tilapia (Oreochromis aureus) is considered as one of the most cold-tolerant tilapia species, and, in this study, we have used a fish from a three-generation selective breeding program for enhanced cold tolerance. Four crosses within and between resistant and sensitive fish were used in this study. Forty families were challenged for cold tolerance, and a strong maternal effect was observed in two consecutive experiments. Expression patterns of the mitochondrial ATP6 gene were strongly correlated with cold tolerance; however, an analysis that applied an individual animal model restricted maximum likelihood on a three-generation pedigree, implies that an epigenetic effect rather than mitochondrial inheritance is the main source of the observed maternal effect. This study demonstrates that maternal effects can play a significant role in the inheritance of cold tolerance and that maternally-transferred genetic components should be targeted when adaptation to low temperature is studied in tilapia.

Keywords

Cichlidae Environmental stress Epigenetics Genetic imprinting Mitochondrial inheritance Temperature 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Ignacy Misztal for the use of the REML program. This research was supported by a grant from the Israeli Fish Breeders Association and by grant 863-0045 from the Chief Scientist of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Institute of Animal ScienceAgricultural Research OrganizationRishon LetziyonIsrael
  2. 2.Ministry of Agriculture & Rural DevelopmentAquaculture Research Station - DorDorIsrael

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