Amélioration génétique expérimentale de la crevette d'élevage de Nouvelle-Calédonie : Sélection d'une population de L. stylirostris résistante à la bactérie pathogène Vibrio penaeicida. Rapport final pour le Ministère de l'Outre-Mer

The New-Caledonian shrimp industry is based on the controlled reproduction of the shrimp Litopenaeus stylirostris, a species which was introduced in the 80s. The major difficulty to which the industry has been faced for 10 years is the occurrence of the "syndrome 93", which corresponds to mortality phases when the temperature falls down in April-May-June. This mortality is associated to the pathogenic bacteria Vibrio penaecida and is expressed at different levels which are variable from year ta year and from pond to pond. No resistance to this pathology has been developed spontaneously. This is likely due to the protocole used to rear spawners, which does not allow to implement an efficient selective pressure at each generation An experimental selection on the criteria of survival after picks of syndrome 93 has been conducted at the Laboratoire Aquacole de Calédonie. The 3rd selected generation demonstrates survival rates improved by 20% during experimental infections with V. penaeicida in comparison with a non selected control population of same genetic origin. The comparison of the correlated responses on the level of expression of 5 genes which are potentially implicated in immunity phenomena (Peneidins, lysozyme, transglutaminase. profiline, annexine) shows that the selected population has a level of expression in lyzozyme twice higher than the control population. This result suggests that the lysozyme could be a genetic marker which could be used in a selective breeding program to he developed in relation with the private hatcheries.