Progress 09/01/19 to 04/30/21

Outputs
Target Audience:As this work is being conducted under an SBIR award, the results are considered proprietary, and there is no immediate target audience outside of the team of scientists from Ocean Era and UMBC. Once the technology is refined, then the target audience would be any marine fish selective breeding program. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? A 6-month trial attempting to induce precocious puberty in ~1- year-old S. rivoliana, was carried out by Ocean Era. The trial investigated two different hormone applications to determine if either would induce early maturation. The hormone treatments were: 17β-estradiol (E2), and a combination of 17β-estradiol and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1). An untreated control group of S. rivoliana was also maintained. The hormonal treatments deployed in this Phase I research did not deliver significantly faster rates of sexual maturation. The estradiol treatment looks promising, but some adjustments will be required - different doses, duration and treatment and starting age. Estradiol will also need to be combined with additional hormones, to achieve full effect. As the porcine IgF did not result in the expected increase in growth rate, other hormones should be employed, such as FSH, in combination with specific miR silencing. However, based on the work and the experience of our collaborators at University of Maryland Baltimore, we believe that there is a clear direction for future work to successfully induce early onset of puberty in these fish. Specifically, the hormones should begin to be applied at an earlier age, and more frequently. The miRNA analysis from this research has yielded compelling results, with significant potential for future advances with the onset of puberty and maturation. Importantly, several miRNAs specific to onset of puberty were identified. For example, miR-25 5P regulates production of hormones involved in the control of reproduction. mir-7a-1-p5 is also a very promising pubertal regulating miRNA candidate

Publications

Progress 09/01/19 to 08/31/20

Outputs
Target Audience:As this work is being conducted under an SBIR award, the results are considered proprietary, and there is no immediate target audience outside of the team of scientists from Ocean Era and UMBC. Once the technology is refined, then the target audience would be any marine fish selective breeding program.As this work is being conducted under an SBIR award, the results are considered proprietary, and there is no immediate target audience outside of the team of scientists from Ocean Era and UMBC. Once the technology is refined, then the target audience would be any marine fish selective breeding program. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? A 6-month trial attempting to induce precocious puberty in ~1- year-old S. rivoliana, was carried out by Ocean Era. The trial investigated two different hormone applications to determine if either would induce early maturation. The hormone treatments were: 17β-estradiol (E2), and a combination of 17β-estradiol and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1). An untreated control group of S. rivoliana was also maintained. The hormonal treatments deployed in this Phase I research did not deliver significantly faster rates of sexual maturation. The estradiol treatment looks promising, but some adjustments will be required - different doses, duration and treatment and starting age. Estradiol will also need to be combined with additional hormones, to achieve full effect. As the porcine IgF did not result in the expected increase in growth rate, other hormones should be employed, such as FSH, in combination with specific miR silencing. However, based on the work and the experience of our collaborators at University of Maryland Baltimore, we believe that there is a clear direction for future work to successfully induce early onset of puberty in these fish. Specifically, the hormones should begin to be applied at an earlier age, and more frequently. The miRNA analysis from this research has yielded compelling results, with significant potential for future advances with the onset of puberty and maturation. Importantly, several miRNAs specific to onset of puberty were identified. For example, miR-25 5P regulates production of hormones involved in the control of reproduction. mir-7a-1-p5 is also a very promising pubertal regulating miRNA candidate

Publications