{"id":34799,"date":"2026-02-05T07:27:52","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T11:27:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/centroincar.cl\/?p=34799"},"modified":"2026-02-05T07:53:27","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T11:53:27","slug":"centro-incar%c2%b2-se-aventurara-en-la-edicion-genica-mediante-innovador-proyecto-que-busca-descifrar-la-determinacion-sexual-del-caligus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/centroincar.cl\/en\/2026\/02\/05\/centro-incar%c2%b2-se-aventurara-en-la-edicion-genica-mediante-innovador-proyecto-que-busca-descifrar-la-determinacion-sexual-del-caligus\/","title":{"rendered":"INCAR\u00b2 Center to Venture into Gene Editing with Innovative Project to Decipher Sexual Determination in Caligus"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>INCAR\u00b2 Center to Venture into Gene Editing with Innovative Project to Decipher Sexual Determination in <em>Caligus<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>The EPISex project, led by Dr. Cristian Gallardo Esc\u00e1rate from UdeC together with researchers from the U.S. and France, seeks to develop new biotechnological strategies to strengthen control of the ectoparasite and provide innovative solutions for salmon farming<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Dr. Cristian Gallardo Esc\u00e1rate, professor at the Department of Oceanography at the University of Concepci\u00f3n and director of the Applied Research Center funded by ANID, INCAR\u00b2, has been awarded a FONDECYT Regular grant to investigate how sea lice determine their sex\u2014a key finding for salmon aquaculture.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis project will allow us to understand fundamental processes in invertebrate biology and, at the same time, contribute innovative solutions for a strategic industry such as salmon farming,\u201d emphasized Dr. Gallardo Esc\u00e1rate.<\/p>\n<p>The project, which also involves Dr. Steven Roberts from the University of Washington, United States, and Dr. Guillaume Rivi\u00e8re from the Universit\u00e9 de Caen-Normandie, France, aims to decipher the molecular mechanisms that determine whether <em>Caligus rogercresseyi<\/em> will be male or female. This knowledge will enable the design of new control strategies against one of the main threats to the industry. Additionally, researchers Dr. Valentina Valenzuela and Dr. Diego Valenzuela will participate from INCAR\u00b2 in developing the molecular and bioinformatic tools needed for this challenging research project.<\/p>\n<p><strong><u>The EPISex Project<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The initiative, titled <em>Epitranscriptomics of Sexual Determination in Sea Lice (EPISex)<\/em>, focuses on studying how certain chemical modifications in RNA\u2014the molecules that carry genetic information\u2014influence sexual differentiation in these organisms.<\/p>\n<p>The team\u2019s initial results show that males present higher levels of RNA methylation compared to females, directly affecting key genes involved in sex determination. These findings suggest that \u201cepigenetic marks\u201d may act as switches that silence or activate specific genes, thereby defining male or female development.<\/p>\n<p>Beyond its scientific relevance, this research opens the door to new biotechnological control tools, such as manipulating sex ratios or silencing genes, which could reduce parasite reproduction and directly benefit aquaculture.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThrough INCAR\u00b2, we will experimentally explore gene editing. As an applied research center, we are interested in staying at the forefront and participating in the discussion surrounding the application of these technologies in aquaculture,\u201d added Dr. Gallardo Esc\u00e1rate.<\/p>\n<p>The EPISex project sets out four major goals:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Confirm the sex chromosome system in sea lice.<\/li>\n<li>Map RNA modifications throughout their development.<\/li>\n<li>Evaluate what happens when these modifications are chemically blocked.<\/li>\n<li>Analyze how non-coding RNAs contribute to the regulation of sex-related genes.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>These objectives will be developed over the next three years.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>INCAR\u00b2 Center to Venture into Gene Editing with Innovative Project to Decipher Sexual Determination in Caligus The EPISex project, led by Dr. Cristian Gallardo Esc\u00e1rate from UdeC together with researchers from the U.S. and France, seeks to develop new biotechnological strategies to strengthen control of the ectoparasite and provide innovative solutions for salmon farming. Dr. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":28789,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-noticias"],"acf":[],"views":750,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/centroincar.cl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/centroincar.cl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/centroincar.cl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centroincar.cl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centroincar.cl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34799"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/centroincar.cl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34801,"href":"https:\/\/centroincar.cl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34799\/revisions\/34801"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centroincar.cl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/centroincar.cl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centroincar.cl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centroincar.cl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}