Genetic Interaction and Adaptation in Aquaculture and Wild Fish Populations

Interactions between farmed and wild fish influence the evolutionary trajectories of natural populations and the sustainability of aquaculture. Domestication in controlled environments selects for rapid growth, altered stress responses and modified life‐history traits, whereas wild populations remain shaped by local environmental pressures. When escapees interbreed with wild conspecifics, gene flow may introduce maladaptive alleles, reduce fitness and erode locally adapted gene complexes. Conversely, insights from comparative genomics and experimental crossings reveal mechanisms underlying adaptation to salinity, temperature and disease, guiding selective breeding programmes. Integrating genomic resources, ecological monitoring and fitness assays offers a holistic framework to mitigate risks of genetic introgression while harnessing adaptive potential for resilient aquaculture stocks and conservation of wild biodiversity.

Research from Nature Portfolio

High‐resolution chromosome‐scale assembly of a euryhaline teleost genome has uncovered expansions in ion‐transport and osmoregulatory gene families that underpin salinity tolerance and has mapped recombination‐dependent genomic islands of differentiation between lineages. This work illustrates how variation in local recombination rates shapes genomic architecture during divergence and secondary contact. In parallel, landscape‐scale sampling after a major net‐pen escape event demonstrated widespread hybridisation between domesticated and wild Atlantic salmon, quantifying the frequency and temporal decline of hybrid and feral offspring across multiple river systems. These findings establish the reproductive viability of escapees, clarify the spatial reach of introgression and underscore the importance of escape prevention for preserving wild genetic integrity.

Genetic Interaction and Adaptation in Aquaculture and Wild Fish Populations publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in genetic interaction and adaptation in aquaculture and wild fish populations across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Genetic introgression: The incorporation of alleles from one population into another through repeated backcrossing after hybridisation.

Local adaptation: The process by which populations evolve traits that confer higher fitness in their specific environments.

Hybridisation: Mating between genetically distinct populations or strains, producing offspring with mixed ancestry.

Euryhalinity: The ability of an organism to tolerate a wide range of salinities.

Common‐garden experiment: A study in which individuals from different genetic backgrounds are reared under identical environmental conditions to compare phenotypic traits.

References

1. European sea bass genome and its variation provide insights into adaptation to euryhalinity and speciation. Nature Communications (2014).
2. Half a century of genetic interaction between farmed and wild Atlantic salmon: Status of knowledge and unanswered questions. Fish and Fisheries (2017).
3. Extensive hybridization following a large escape of domesticated Atlantic salmon in the Northwest Atlantic. Communications Biology (2018).
4. An extensive common‐garden study with domesticated and wild Atlantic salmon in the wild reveals impact on smolt production and shifts in fitness traits. Evolutionary Applications (2019).
5. Global assessment of ecological risks associated with farmed fish escapes. Global Ecology and Conservation (2020).