Gene expression profiling of gilthead sea bream during early development and detection of stress-related genes by the application of cDNA microarray technology

Gene expression profiling of gilthead sea bream during early development and detection of stress-related genes by the application of cDNA microarray technology. Physiol Genomics 23: 182–191, 2005. First published July 26, 2005; doi:10.1152/physiolgenomics.00139.2005.—Large-scale gene expression studies were performed for one of the main European aquaculture species, the gilthead sea bream Sparus auratus L. For this purpose, a cDNA microarray containing 10,176 clones from a cDNA library of mixed embryonic and larval stages was constructed. In addition to its importance for aquaculture, the taxonomic position and the relatively small genome size of sea bream makes it a prospective model for evolutionary biology and comparative genomics. However, so far, no large-scale analysis of gene expression exists for this species. In the present study, gene expression was analyzed in gilthead sea bream during early development, a significant period in the determination of quantitative traits and therefore of considerable interest for aquaculture. Synexpression groups expressed primarily early and late in development were determined and were composed of both known and novel genes. Furthermore, it was possible to identify stress response genes induced by cortisol injections using the cDNA microarray generated. The creation of gene expression profiles for sea bream by microarray hybridization will accelerate identification of candidate genes involved in multifactorial traits and certain regulatory pathways and will also contribute to a better understanding of the genetic background of fish physiology, which may help to improve aquaculture practices.We thank Dr. M. Pankratz and lab for providing the microarray spotting facilities and Dr. C. Seiler for support in generating pictures of the developmental stages of sea bream. Sequences reported in this article have been submitted to the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) EST database under Accession Nos. CB184056–CB184594 and CV133223–CV133736. Microarray expression data have been submitted to ARRAYExpress under Accession Nos. E-MEXP-181 (experiment) and A-MEXP-110 (array) as well as to the NCBI Omnibus under Accession Nos. GSE 2064 and GSE 1887