Lin Qiang, Fan Shaohua, Zhang Yanhong, Xu Meng, Zhang Huixian, Yang Yulan, Lee Alison P, Woltering Joost M, Ravi Vydianathan, Gunter Helen M, Luo Wei, Gao Zexia, Lim Zhi Wei, Qin Geng, Schneider Ralf F, Wang Xin, Xiong Peiwen, Li Gang, Wang Kai, Min Jiumeng, Zhang Chi, Qiu Ying, Bai Jie, He Weiming, Bian Chao, Zhang Xinhui, Shan Dai, Qu Hongyue, Sun Ying, Gao Qiang, Huang Liangmin, Shi Qiong, Meyer Axel, Venkatesh Byrappa
CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-resources and Ecology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China.
Chair in Zoology and Evolutionary Biology, Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz 78457, Germany.
Nature. 2016 Dec 14;540(7633):395-399. doi: 10.1038/nature20595.
Seahorses have a specialized morphology that includes a toothless tubular mouth, a body covered with bony plates, a male brood pouch, and the absence of caudal and pelvic fins. Here we report the sequencing and de novo assembly of the genome of the tiger tail seahorse, Hippocampus comes. Comparative genomic analysis identifies higher protein and nucleotide evolutionary rates in H. comes compared with other teleost fish genomes. We identified an astacin metalloprotease gene family that has undergone expansion and is highly expressed in the male brood pouch. We also find that the H. comes genome lacks enamel matrix protein-coding proline/glutamine-rich secretory calcium-binding phosphoprotein genes, which might have led to the loss of mineralized teeth. tbx4, a regulator of hindlimb development, is also not found in H. comes genome. Knockout of tbx4 in zebrafish showed a 'pelvic fin-loss' phenotype similar to that of seahorses.
海马具有独特的形态，包括无牙的管状口、覆盖着骨板的身体、雄性育儿袋，以及没有尾鳍和腹鳍。在此我们报告虎尾海马（Hippocampus comes）基因组的测序和从头组装。比较基因组分析表明，与其他硬骨鱼基因组相比，虎尾海马的蛋白质和核苷酸进化速率更高。我们鉴定出一个已发生扩张且在雄性育儿袋中高度表达的阿斯巴甜金属蛋白酶基因家族。我们还发现，虎尾海马基因组缺乏牙釉质基质蛋白编码的富含脯氨酸/谷氨酰胺的分泌性钙结合磷蛋白基因，这可能导致了矿化牙齿的缺失。在虎尾海马基因组中也未发现后肢发育调节因子tbx4。在斑马鱼中敲除tbx4会表现出与海马类似的“腹鳍缺失”表型。
