Functional Genomics in Shrimp Disease Control

Over the past three decades, shrimp aquaculture has transformed from subsistence farming to a major industry due to the global increases in demand of seafood. As shrimp farming was intensified, diseases have become a major challenge to the industry worldwide, particularly those caused by viruses. To mitigate the need of the growing industry and to counter the threat of the emerging viral diseases, captive breeding programs have been developed in penaeid shrimp. In recent years, functional genomics have been used to complement the classical genetic approaches in developing virus-resistant shrimp lines. This chapter provides an overview of the current status of shrimp functional genomics toward developing markers for disease resistance, isolating differentially expressed genes and understanding the molecular mechanisms of viral pathogenesis in shrimp.