Global demand for food over the next 40 years is expected to double. Under present production technologies, meeting this demand and achieving global food security will require a doubling of water consumption levels. Meanwhile, the chemically fueled “Green Revolution” has run its course, leaving soil moistures depleted, and unclear climate change patterns threaten a looming agricultural water crisis. According to a study by McKinsey, a third of the world’s population lives in regions facing water shortages; by 2030 global water requirements could be as much as 40 percent higher than the currently accessible supply.

Ironically, 70 percent of our planet is covered with seas offering more economical protein production without depleting scarce water resources. However, wild fisheries around the world have reached or exceeded their maximum sustainable harvest so the United Nations is projecting a 40-million-ton seafood shortage by 2030. Therefore, the $50 billion worldwide marine aquaculture industry - the deliberate farming of ocean species that provides half the world’s edible seafood - will continue to be the fastest growing form of food production in the world.

Bivalve shellfish (oysters, mussels, scallops, clams) are low trophic (scientific-speak) because they are close to the plant base of the marine food web pyramid. Species feeding low in the food chain efficiently utilize natural resources. Each level up the food chain inflates costs related to the use of resources and the production of waste and the maintenance of water quality.

Fast growing bivalve crops require little attention as they feed on drifting phytoplankton, are easily harvested, processed, and have a long shelf life for extended distribution. This is attracting the attention of private sector investors: no external feed, no negative environmental impact, and short harvest times. These factors reduce risk and generates a phenomenal return on investment.

Cracking the Bivalve Genome

All life forms are subject to the primacy of the genetic code (ATGC), which governs heritability, the ability to reproduce, and the propensity to evolve. As society faces the challenges of insufficient food production and environmental degradation, genetics will become a sustainable survival tool for humanity.

For as long as plants and animals have been domesticated, the tendency has been to select species for improvement with better growth, disease resistance, or any characteristic producing a better yield. With the advancement of shellfish hatchery technology over the past thirty years, this industry has employed these techniques to improve their crops.

On September 19th, 2012, an international team of 75 researchers published the full genome of the Pacific oyster comprising 800 million DNA base pairs, including around 20,000 genes. A close look at the genes of the Pacific oyster immune system reveals why it is largely resistant to plaguing diseases. Oysters can tolerate 100-degree water but also can withstand being covered with ice. They can survive out of water for weeks, if kept cool. They inhabit water where salinity varies seven-fold depending on season and weather. Now that disease-resistant genes have been identified, this could lead to a “molecular breeding” program in which oysters carrying them are raised in large numbers and used for greater yields in aquaculture.

Molecular and Computational Short Cuts

Unlocking the bivalve genome may also shed light on the consequences of climate change, which could threaten marine organisms’ ability to form shells as the ocean becomes more acidic. Although bivalves are highly fecund, their offspring are very vulnerable and tend to die soon after birth. With the advent of ocean acidification, combined with the certitude of climate change, defined shifts in gene expression related to environmental stresses will provide transcriptional clues to the adaptations bivalves employ for survival.

Bivalve genes are also specialists in inhibiting “apoptosis,” the process by which a cell kills itself in an orderly fashion once it suffers serious damage, gets old, weak or unneeded. For example, Pacific oysters have 48 genes coding for proteins that inhibit apoptosis. The human genome has eight. Could the complexity of the oyster genome shed light for cracking the code for longevity?

With global population forecast to reach 9 billion by 2050, there will be many more mouths to feed and perhaps more if the bivalve gene reveals the code for inhibiting apoptosis in humans. This “Next Big Thing” of sequencing the bivalve gene will allow scientists and bivalve farmers to increase yields with higher survival rates to help meet the monumental challenge of feeding an aging and burgeoning population.