Vasemägi, A. 2004. Evolutionary Genetics of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) Molecular Markers and Applications. ISSN 1401-6230, ISBN 91-576-6708-X This thesis deals with evolutionary genetics of Atlantic salmon populations, with the special emphasis on the roles of migration, random genetic drift, mutation and natural selection affecting the patterns of molecular variation across contemporary ...

The origins, design, fabrication and performance of an Atlantic salmon microarray are described. The microarray comprises 16 950 Atlantic salmon-derived cDNA features, printed in duplicate and mostly sourced from pre-existing expressed sequence tag (EST) collections [SALGENE and salmon genome project (SGP)] but also supplemented with cDNAs from suppression subtractive hybridization libraries an...

No information exists on the identification of primordial germ cells (PGCs) in the super-order Protacanthopterygii, which includes the Salmonidae family and Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.), one of the most commercially important aquatic animals worldwide. In order to identify salmon PGCs, we cloned the full-length cDNA of vasa, dead end (dnd), and lymphocyte antigen 75 (ly75/CD205) genes as ge...

A plasmacytoid leukemia of chinook salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, has recently been recognized in seawater netpens in British Columbia, Canada. The disease has occurred at several sites and has caused high mortality. Plasmacytoid leukemia is characterized by a generalized invasion of visceral tissues and the orbit of the eye by plasmacytoid cells. The disease was experimentally transmitted t...

In Scotland, low level mortalities in farmed Atlantic salmon were associated with a bacterium which had properties generally associated wlth the genus Vibno, but which did not resemble any previously described species. In naturally infected fish extensive sloughing and necrosis of the gut mucosa, haemorrhaging, and an increase in perltoneal exudate were recorded. Similar lesions were produced i...

Immune mechanisms in 2 strains of Salmo salar (Baltic salmon from River Ume Alv in Sweden and East Atlantic salmon from River Skjernå in Denmark) infected with the monogenean ectoparasite Gyrodactylus salaris were elucidated by molecular tools (real-time PCR). The gene expression in the fins (the preferred microhabitat of the parasite) of the susceptible but responding Swedish salmon was compar...

Recombination is thought to occur only rarely in animal mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). However, detection of mtDNA recombination requires that cells become heteroplasmic through mutation, intramolecular recombination or 'leakage' of paternal mtDNA. Interspecific hybridization increases the probability of detecting mtDNA recombinants due to higher levels of sequence divergence and potentially higher...

A number of viral haemorrhagic septicaemia (VHS) virus isolates of European marine origin were shown to be of low pathogenicity or non-pathogenic to Atlantic salmon parr by water-borne infection. A reference freshwater VHS virus isolate known to be highly pathogenic to rainbow trout was also of low pathogenicity to Atlantic salmon. Virus was detected in some mortalities, however, demonstrating ...

Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.), a member of the family Salmonidae, is a totemic species of ecological and cultural significance that is also economically important in terms of both sports fisheries and aquaculture. These factors have promoted the continuous development of genomic resources for this species, furthering both fundamental and applied research. MicroRNAs (miRNA) are small endogeno...

The river-resident Salmo salar ("småblank") has been isolated from other Atlantic salmon populations for 9,500 years in upper River Namsen, Norway. This is the only European Atlantic salmon population accomplishing its entire life cycle in a river. Hydropower development during the last six decades has introduced movement barriers and changed more than 50% of the river habitat to lentic conditi...