Genome editing technologies hold transformative potential for aquaculture by enabling precise and efficient modifications to key traits, thereby driving advancements in commercial-scale production. These technologies offer unique opportunities to enhance economically valuable characteristics, including sterility, growth rate, and thermal tolerance and potentially disease resistance, which are crucial challenges in sustainable aquaculture.
To enable large-scale commercial adoption of genome editing in livestock, key technical challenges must be addressed, including the development of high-throughput microinjection methods to achieve high editing efficiency. Equally important is the seamless integration of genome-edited animals into breeding programs, which requires consideration of factors such as inbreeding, relatedness, and trait management.
This study presents a strategic approach to introducing genome-edited animals into a breeding nucleus, utilizing fully edited individuals to incorporate desired loci into the breeding population while maintaining trait expression control. Simulation scenarios were analysed across varying levels of inbreeding, editing efficiency, and trait effects. Results demonstrated that effective integration can be achieved within a limited number of generations, contingent on the number of starting animals and optimized mating strategies. These findings provide practical insights for accelerating the adoption of genome editing in breeding programs.
This work showcases recent progress and innovative strategies for scaling genome editing, and the critical role of interdisciplinary collaboration in unlocking its full potential, ultimately fostering a more sustainable and resilient aquaculture industry.