Catalina Sea Ranch (CSR) is developing a selective breeding program for producing high performing bivalve shellfish. It has teamed with scientists from USC’s Molecular and Computational Biological Sciences Department for innovating and accelerating the science of selective breeding. Molecular biologists bring laboratory-based approaches about the workings of genes, proteins, chromosomes and cells. Computational biologists focus on the design and development of algorithms that analyze DNA, protein sequences and other biological data.
Catalina Sea Ranch has teamed with the University of Southern California to produce higher performing bivalve shellfish. Research will identify genetic traits for overcoming challenging environmental conditions and meeting market requirements with selective breeding that has occurred in other primary plant and animal production industries. No GMO, only accelerated natural selection using molecular and computational technologies for producing genetic gains in bivalve shellfish.