Introduction – ‘You are what you eat’
In: Steinberg, C.E.W. (2018). Aquatic animal nutrition: A mechanistic perspective from individuals to generations. Springer International Publishing: Cham. ISBN 978-3-319-91766-5. XXI, 474 pp. https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91767-2, meer
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| Author keywords |
Sympatric speciation; Transgenerational dietary effects; Dietary restriction; Circardian gene transcription; Intestinal microbiota |
| Abstract |
The trivial word ‘You are what you eat’ (YAWYE) actually applies also to fish and aquatic invertebrates; however, not literally, but in a more hidden, subtle manner. This introductory chapter will briefly address the content of Volume I of Aquatic Animal Nutrition: Chapter 2 recalls basic textbook knowledge and discusses dietary impacts on morphology and functioning of the intestine. Chapter 3 focuses on the central significance of the intestinal microbiota, the forgotten ecosystem. Central in Chap. 4 is the message that dietary restriction and starvation are natural occurrences and do not necessarily kill the individuals which often respond with compensatory growth and improved Darwinian fitness – even of their offspring. Chapter 5 discusses the circadian rhythmicity of digestive and biotransformation gene transcription and questions the paradigm of ‘antinutritional factors’. Chapter 6 addresses transgenerational dietary effects including starvation resistance; and the last Chapter shows that diets can be the basis for sympatric speciation whereby not only genetical, but also epigenetical mechanisms likely apply. |
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