At about 8:00 a.m. on November 18, Chen Songlin, a researcher at the Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, who was preparing to attend the meeting, suddenly received a message from many friends congratulating him on his election as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and becoming the fourth academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering after Zhao Fazhen, Tang Qisheng and Lei Jilin. Chen Songlin has been engaged in fish biotechnology research for more than 30 years, deciphering the first fish genome in mainland China and promoting fish breeding into the genomic era. "Being elected as an academician is an honor, but it is more of a responsibility." Chen Songlin, 61, said that in time to catch up with the mainland's "good battle to turn the seed industry around", it is necessary to continue to innovate fish biotechnology on the basis of the original and make new contributions to promoting the high-quality development of fish on the mainland.
Lay the foundation for cryopreservation of fish germplasm
The mainland fish farming industry has always had problems such as fish germplasm degradation, resource reduction, lack of germplasm preservation technology, frequent occurrence of diseases, lack of genetic resources and disease resistance and high yield of good seeds, which have seriously affected the sustainable development of the fish aquaculture industry. In order to explore the solution to these problems, Chen Songlin has been fighting in the front line of fish biotechnology (engineering) research for more than 30 years.
Germplasm resources are the foundation of aquaculture and the key to the development of the seed industry. To fight the battle of turning the seed industry around, we must first collect and preserve fish germplasm resources. Biotechnology innovation is the key to cultivating good seeds, and it is also a key point to "fight the battle of turning the seed industry around". "Over the years, we have aimed at this big goal and have been conducting research on the conservation, innovation and utilization of germplasm resources at different levels." Chen Songlin said.
Fish sperm bank and cell bank are important means of preserving fish germplasm. In the mid-1980s, the mainland was quite weak in fish sperm, embryo cryopreservation and cell line establishment, lacking effective technology for cryopreservation of fish germplasm and sperm banks and cell banks.
Chen Songlin is introducing the new disease-resistant and high-yield varieties of turbot and semi-slippery tongue fish he has cultivated
Since the mid-1980s, Chen Songlin has been doing research on cryopreservation of fish sperm, which is an important part of the study of germplasm resources. At the beginning of the 21st century, the cryopreservation technology of marine fish embryos was pioneered. Subsequently, 28 continental marine fish embryonic stem cell lines and histiocyte lines were established, and a fish germplasm cryopreservation technology system was established, which laid an important foundation for the protection and innovative utilization of marine fish germplasm resources in mainland China, and won the second prize of the National Technological Invention Award in 2006. With the development of the times and the progress of science and technology, Chen Songlin has risen from sperm and embryo to the molecular level, especially the genomic level.
Promote fish into the era of genetic breeding
Semi-slippery tongue fish (commonly known as "tongue fish") is a valuable marine aquaculture fish, selected as one of the 9 major species of the national marine fish industry technology system. Although the production of this fish is not too high, the price is very good, a pound can be sold for seventy or eighty yuan, and the annual output value reaches more than 2 billion yuan.
However, there is a huge difference in the growth of females and males in the semi-slippery tongue fish farming industry. After more than a year of breeding, the female fish can reach more than 1 kilogram, while the male fish only has 2 to 4 pairs. Fishermen are very sad to see that the male fish they have worked so hard to cultivate are so "short", there is no market, and they cannot sell for a price. Moreover, in the fry, the proportion of male fish that do not grow up has reached 80% to 90%, which has seriously dampened the enthusiasm of fishermen for aquaculture, affecting the promotion of fry and the development of aquaculture.
Since 2009, Chen Songlin's team and Shenzhen Huada Gene Research Institute have jointly carried out the sequencing of the genome of fish semi-slippery tongue fish, and took the lead in completing the whole genome sequence map of semi-slippery tongue ray in China. Through genome sequencing, Chen Songlin's team found that there are sex-determining genes. The expression of this gene causes the male of the semi-slippery tongue to grow slowly and does not grow much, and this gene is not expressed as a female fish that can grow up, and the growth rate is fast.
The gene editing technology of semi-slippery tongue ray was established, the male determination gene of male fry was knocked out, and it was found that some of them grew as large as female fish, thus breaking through the problem of slow growth of male fish with semi-slippery tongue, increasing the proportion of physiological female fish in the fry from about 20% to about 40%, significantly improving the aquaculture yield, and providing a strong technical guarantee for the development of the semi-slippery tongue fish breeding industry.
Subsequently, the sequencing and gene mapping of continental fish genomes were carried out simultaneously. At present, genome sequencing studies have been carried out on more than 40 species of farmed fish, and articles have been published to provide technical reference for other farmed fish. "These efforts have pushed our country's fish seed industry and fish breeding industry to the era of genetic breeding, and provided genetic resource foundation and technical support for the cultivation of good fish species and the development of the seed industry." Chen Songlin said.
New varieties with high disease resistance and high yield will be bred
In the fish farming industry, there is another bigger problem, that is, the frequent occurrence of diseases, affecting the enthusiasm of fishermen for aquaculture and affecting the green development of the industry. In particular, now the promotion of fish antibiotic-free, green aquaculture industry development, can not use antibiotics, so the cultivation of disease-resistant, high-yield excellent varieties has become an urgent need for the industry, has become an urgent problem, to be overcome.
To this end, on the basis of completing the genome sequencing, Chen Songlin's team used genomic resources to establish a disease-resistant genome breeding technology for marine fish, developed a disease-resistant breeding gene chip "Fish Core No. 1", and bred 3 new varieties of disease resistance and high yield, such as Turbot "Turbot No. 2", Semi-slippery Tongue Fish "Yu You No. 1", etc., making outstanding contributions to the biotechnology and genetic breeding research of marine fish in the mainland among the forefront of the world. At the same time, Chen Songlin's team also cooperated with the Guangxi Academy of Fishery Sciences to apply this technology to freshwater tilapia, and cultivated a new variety of tilapia "Zhuangluo No. 1" with high disease resistance and high yield, and obtained the certificate of new varieties of the national examination. "This technology has great promotion value and broad promotion prospects in the cultivation of fish."
Speaking of future work, Chen Songlin said that he will continue to take turbot and other marine fish as the object, and promote the genome selection breeding technology to other important farmed fish, so as to provide new technical means for the cultivation of disease-resistant and high-yield varieties of mainland fish and the development of the seed industry, and promote the rapid development of the mainland fish species industry. "In the next step, we must increase the application of high and new technologies in the cultivation of fine fish species and the fish breeding industry, and strive to cultivate more disease-resistant, high-yield, high-quality new varieties, provide good breeds for the majority of farmers, and provide good seed guarantee and technical support for the green development of the aquaculture industry." Chen Songlin said.
"Rigorous, tireless, admirable, exemplary." "Some people may think that doing scientific research is boring, but they regard scientific research as a hobby and enjoy it." This is the evaluation of Chen Songlin by research partners and students. Although he has passed the age of huajia, Chen Songlin still works more than 10 hours a day, and often goes to the institute to work overtime on weekends and holidays, and scientific research has become a part of his life.
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