Production of a breed of red sea bream Pagrus major with an increase of skeletal muscle mass and reduced body length by genome editing with CRISPR/Cas9

Genome editing is a powerful tool as a new breeding technology including for aquaculture because of the high efficiency of gene targeting without the requirement for exogenous gene integration. CRISPR/Cas9 system, a genome editing tool, has been widely used in various species due to its efficiency and flexibility. We demonstrate the establishment of a new breed of myostatin (Pm-mstn) complete knockout red sea bream (Pagrus major) using CRISPR/Cas9. This is the first report of the establishment of a new breed in aquaculture marine fish using genome editing. The mutations were formed by deletions in the first exon of the Pm-mstn, which cause disruption of the C-terminal active domain of MSTN. The breed exhibited a 16% increase of skeletal muscle, that is, an increase of edible parts. The breed showed the phenotype of short body length and small centrum, which is not observed in mice and other teleost fish. We established the homozygous gene disrupted breed in 2 years, which is far shorter than the conventional breeding method. Our study indicates that genome editing can accelerate the speed of aquaculture fish breeding.