Showcasing metabolomic applications in aquaculture: a review

Abstract

Aquaculture production is currently challenged to meet the growing demands for seafood protein throughout the world. To achieve this growth in an efficient, safe and sustainable manner, novel tools and applications will need to be incorporated at each step of the production line. A variety of 'omics' (e.g., transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics) applications have already begun to emerge in aquaculture research with extreme success. A promising new 'omics' approach is metabolomics, which aims to use metabolite profiles to identify biomarkers indicative of physiological responses of living samples (e.g., whole organism, tissues, cells) to environmental or culture conditions. One of the benefits of this approach is that it uses a broad scan of biological conditions to identify often unexpected problem or risk areas to focus management attention. In this contribution, we have selected relevant research examples to showcase the applications of metabolomics in aquaculture in four major areas: hatchery production, nutrition and diet, disease and immunology, and food safety and quality. The novelty of this approach is highlighted by the fact that we have cited the majority of published papers in this field, and these are all recent (within the last decade) contributions.

Metabolomics and fish nutrition: a review in the context of sustainable feed development

“…In contrast to targeted approaches, the holistic nature of metabolomics helps to investigate the complexity of a biological system responding to direct exposure to an environmental condition such as nutrition (Brennan et al . ; Sébédio ; Alfaro & Young ).…”

“…Metabolomics in fish research focuses on the fields of environmental impact on fish, fish health and welfare and fish nutrition (Samuelsson & Larsson ; Alfaro & Young ).…”

“…). In fish, metabolomic research has been reviewed by Samuelsson and Larsson () and Alfaro and Young () who identified different fields of study: environmental metabolomics, metabolomics for health monitoring and metabolomics for fish nutrition.…”

“…Metabolomic studies for nutrition were initially developed for human applications but have recently been extended to livestock animals (Wishart 2008;Brennan 2013;Goldansaz et al 2017). In fish, metabolomic research has been reviewed by Samuelsson and Larsson (2008) and Alfaro and Young (2018) who identified different fields of study: environmental metabolomics, metabolomics for health monitoring and metabolomics for fish nutrition.…”

Abalone growth and associated aspects: now from a metabolic perspective

“…It was further suggested that metabolomics could be useful to better understand drug–host–pathogen interactions and the outcome of drug treatments in these aquatic species. Now 10 years later, it is still believed that the potential of metabolomics research with regard to aquaculture has yet to be realised (Alfaro & Young ). Although metabolomics as a research field are still in its infancy, the use of metabolomics for aquaculture application is highly relevant (Young & Alfaro ), considering that a well‐established value chain for aquaculture products (especially abalone) is in place, with the potential to expand as the market grows, and the recent advancements in metabolomics.…”