Perspectives on deploying gene editing techniques to protect farmed invertebrates from pathogenic infection.

The production of aquatic protein for human consumption is widely argued as playing a pivotal role in the provision of global food security. However, the sustainable intensification of aquaculture production faces key challenges from impacts of, for example, climate change and the incidence of pandemic diseases and syndromic disorders. Current initiatives to tackle these challenges rely on the dissemination of Better Management Practices to farmers, often based in remote locations. In the longer term our improved understanding of invertebrate immune systems, in particular pattern recognition receptors and pathways, will present positive solutions to disrupt host/pathogen interactions. Combining these insights with advances in bioscience tools, including gene editing, will provide novel avenues to reduce the impacts of disease in biosecure culture systems. Concerted research efforts between academic and industry scientists, supported by appropriate investment, should be directed toward overcoming challenges of implementing bioscience solutions to control diseases in order for the aquaculture industry to meet future global demand.