The General Secretariat of Fisheries and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment awarded to Francesc Piferrer, Research Professor at the Department of Renewable Marine Resources of the Institute of Marine Sciences, the XII Jacumar Aquaculture Research Award for the work entitled "Epigenetics of fish sex determination: How the temperature during the larval stages determines the sex ratio in the European sea bass and its application in aquaculture for the production of a greater number of females."
The General Secretariat of Fisheries and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment awarded to Francesc Piferrer, Research Professor at the Department of Renewable Marine Resources of the Institute of Marine Sciences, the XII Jacumar Aquaculture Research Award for the work entitled "Epigenetics of fish sex determination: How the temperature during the larval stages determines the sex ratio in the European sea bass and its application in aquaculture for the production of a greater number of females."
With this research, the team led by Piferrer, The Group of Biology of Reproduction, has allowed the development of an innovative and patented method, the first of its kind the world, to maximize the number of females in cultured sea bass stock. The industry, which has participated always with basic research projects and with the implementation of technology transfer projects, has shown great interest in this non-invasive , non-pharmacological method, which does not involve the use of hormones, since it requires only the control of water temperature during the initial stages of development and, therefore, is in line with the concept of sustainable aquaculture . Significantly, this method has already begun its implementation in some aquaculture companies.
For the development of this practical method it has been necessary the understanding of the underlying molecular mechanisms responsible for the establishment of the sex ratio. It should be emphasized the that this work represents the discovery, for the first time in any animal, of an epigenetic mechanism linking an external factor such as temperature with sex determination , solving a scientific enigma that had been the subject of much debate. The work was published in the prestigious journal PLoS Genetics and had a great impact on the scientific press and the general mass media (newspapers , radio and TV) worldwide, including Time Magazine .
The award, which is endowed with 7,000 euros, will be used to complement the group’s ongoing research. Currently , the groups’ main research line, the study of basic and applied aspects of sex determination and differentiation in fish, with a molecular and genomics approach, is being complements with the incorporation of epigenetics, particularly methylomics, using next generation massive sequencing techniques. The goal is to understand how the early environment has lifelong consequences on certain physiological functions that are both relevant for both adaptions to different environments as well as for animal production .