Role of selective autophagy processes in regulating the glucose tolerance of carnivorous fish: seeking greater replacement of fishmeal by vegetal ingredients in aquafeeds

The overarching goal of MEAL fish is to further understand the role of chaperone-Mediated autophagy (CMA) and Endosomal microautophagy (eMI) in AquacuLture fish, and to determine their relative contribution to nutrient utilization and metabolism.

Deciphering the role of CMA and eMI in the control of carbohydrate metabolism will contribute to shed light on diverse physiological processes that can ultimately affect fish production, including nutrition and growth.

During this trainee-development focused project, the fellow, through his interactions with the supervisor and the partners (H. Wodrich, and A.

Herpin, from the stellar French research institutions CNRS and INRAE, respectively), will acquire diverse state-of-the-art skills that significantly enhance his scientific and technical knowledge. The mentor (I.

Seiliez, UMR1419 INRAE NuMeA) is an internationally recognized leader in autophagy, fish metabolism and genomics and provides an excellent training environment for the applicant, an experienced researcher (ER) and emerging young leader in fish biology research.

It is noteworthy the novelty and originality of the project, which proposes to gain insights on the function of a recently discovered process in fish, CMA, together with the barely known eMI, and to study its applied scope in aquaculture for the promotion of the use of non-fishmeal nutrients in aquafeeds.

The project focuses on an important commercial species of the European aquaculture, the rainbow trout (O. mykiss).

The European research competitiveness will be continuously enhanced throughout the project by the superior training of the ER, the interaction between multidisciplinary researchers, and translating for commercial use of the derived new knowledge on the regulation of CMA and eMI and its contribution to fish production.

This project will ultimately contribute to the EU food sustainability, economy, employment and maintenance of its status as a group of high-level-knowledge countries.