Catfish Transgenesis and Gene Editing: Overview, Recent Advances, and Future Perspectives

Transgenesis and gene editing offer a promising approach for more efficient and sustainable aquaculture by generating high-performance fish to enhance global food security. This article provides a comprehensive review of the history, current status, and future perspectives of employing transgenesis and gene-editing technologies to improve fish production and welfare, focusing on catfishes, which represent a diverse group of economically important fish. We discussed the application of various genetic technologies, including gene transfer (transgenesis) and gene editing, to boost fish economic traits and achieve genetic confinement. We also reviewed the progress on integrating transgenesis and gene-editing techniques for multiple gene editing, an approach that can speed up and make the genetic modification of fish more efficient. This review also highlights several research gaps in the current literature on gene transfer and gene editing in catfishes. Specifically, it provides directions for future catfish research, including the employment of transcriptomics in phenotypic assessment of transgenic and gene-edited fish, addressing compensatory mechanisms when selecting the gene-editing targets, and accounting for gene-environment and gene-nutrition interactions. It also highlights the application of advanced gene-editing tools, integration of genomic selection and artificial intelligence with gene editing, transparent public education about the benefits and risks of genetic biotechnology, and the development of effective reproductive confinement strategies.