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GEOMAR Helmholtz Center For Ocean Research, Kiel, Germany Laboratory of Aquaculture & Artemia Reference Center, Ghent University, Belgium
GEOMAR Helmholtz Center For Ocean Research, Kiel, Germany Laboratory of Aquaculture & Artemia Reference Center, Ghent University, Belgium
BACKGROUND
Mass mortality of fish larvae is a major bottleneck in aquaculture production
Promising solution:
Application of dietary supplements such as prebiotics to improve the immunocompetence of larval fish
EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH
Species in focus
European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) larvae were used from
28 days post hatch onwards
European sea bass larva ©fishbase.us
Prebiotic in focus
Poly-ß-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) is a bacterial energy storage compound
which was shown to have an immunostimulatory potential
(De Schryver et al., 2011, Environmental Microbiology 13(4), 1042-1051)
1.5
1.5
1.0
1.0
0.5
0.5
0.0 0.0
Control PHB Control PHB
MHC class II alpha (2. sampling) MHC class II beta (2. sampling)
4.5 3.5
F = 14.35, p < 0.05 F = 8.27, p < 0.05
4.0
3.0
3.5
x-fold gene expression relative to control
x-fold gene expression relative to control
2.5
3.0
2.5 2.0
2.0 1.5
1.5
1.0
1.0
0.5
0.5
0.0 0.0
Control PHB Graphs display mean + SEM Control PHB