Jiangsu Marine Fishery Research Institute, Nantong, Jiangsu 226007, China.
Freshwater Fishery Research Center, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214081, China.
Gigascience. 2018 Apr 1;7(4):1-7. doi: 10.1093/gigascience/giy012.
As one of the most popular and valuable commercial marine fishes in China and East Asian countries, the Chinese black porgy (Acanthopagrus schlegelii), also known as the blackhead seabream, has some attractive characteristics such as fast growth rate, good meat quality, resistance to diseases, and excellent adaptability to various environments. Furthermore, the black porgy is a good model for investigating sex changes in fish due to its protandrous hermaphroditism. Here, we obtained a high-quality genome assembly of this interesting teleost species and performed a genomic survey on potential genes associated with the sex-change phenomenon.
We generated 175.4 gigabases (Gb) of clean sequence reads using a whole-genome shotgun sequencing strategy. The final genome assembly is approximately 688.1 megabases (Mb), accounting for 93% of the estimated genome size (739.6 Mb). The achieved scaffold N50 is 7.6 Mb, reaching a relatively high level among sequenced fish species. We identified 19 465 protein-coding genes, which had an average transcript length of 17.3 kb. By performing a comparative genomic analysis, we found 3 types of genes potentially associated with sex change, which are useful for studying the genetic basis of the protandrous hermaphroditism.
We provide a draft genome assembly of the Chinese black porgy and discuss the potential genetic mechanisms of sex change. These data are also an important resource for studying the biology and for facilitating breeding of this economically important fish.
作为中国和东亚国家最受欢迎和最有价值的商业海水鱼类之一，中国黑鲷（Acanthopagrus schlegelii），又称黑鳃真鲈，具有生长速度快、肉质好、抗病力强、对各种环境适应能力强等优点。此外，黑鲷是研究鱼类性转变的良好模型，因为它具有雌雄同体的特性。在这里，我们获得了这个有趣的硬骨鱼的高质量基因组组装，并对与性转变现象相关的潜在基因进行了基因组调查。
我们使用全基因组鸟枪法测序策略生成了 175.4 吉字节（Gb）的清洁序列读数。最终的基因组组装约为 688.1 兆字节（Mb），占估计基因组大小（739.6 Mb）的 93%。实现的支架 N50 为 7.6 Mb，在已测序的鱼类中达到了相对较高的水平。我们鉴定了 19465 个编码蛋白的基因，其平均转录长度为 17.3 kb。通过进行比较基因组分析，我们发现了 3 种可能与性转变相关的基因类型，这对研究雌雄同体的遗传基础很有用。
我们提供了中国黑鲷的基因组草图组装，并讨论了性转变的潜在遗传机制。这些数据也是研究生物学和促进这种经济重要鱼类养殖的重要资源。
