Epigenetic Management of Disease Resistance in Farmed Shrimp

The global demand for high-quality animal protein is expected to increase considerably with the rise in the human population. It is predicted that farmed crustacean shrimps could contribute signifcantly to this increasing demand, and eventually to the world’s future food protein security and nutrition. Diseases, however, impose a major yield-limiting efect on the farmed production of high-value shrimps, causing devastating socio-economic impacts. To avoid disease-mediated production losses there has been a continuous efort to develop efective and sustainable health management and disease prevention strategies. Lately, epigenetics has attracted considerable attention because there is now compelling evidence indicating that epigenetics alterations are involved in the induction of disease resistance in aquaculture animals, including shrimps, both within and across generations. Tis chapter brings this information together and discusses the potential of this new concept in the design of new-generation health management and disease preventional strategies in farmed shrimp.