The current genomic information provides a valuable resource for identifying and discovering genes and variants associated with economically important traits of this fish.
The whole genome of the Indian major carp, Cirrhinus mrigala, commonly known as mrigal, has been sequenced and assembled by scientists of ICAR-National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources, Lucknow. The fish plays a crucial role in the carp-dominated aquaculture system and is the third most important species among the major Indian carps.
The assembled whole genome of the fish is 1.057 Gb in size, consisting of 940 scaffolds with an N50 of 37.32 Mb. Benchmarking with BUSCO determined the genome to be 98.00 per cent complete.
The characterization of the assembled highly revealed 39,091 genes was functionally annotated, which included 8,428 hypothetical and 1,688 uncharacterized. The study investigated Hox gene clusters, identifying 38 Hox genes distributed in seven clusters. The research findings are published in Scientific Data journal, published by Nature group of journals.
The current genomic information provides a valuable resource for identifying and discovering genes and variants associated with economically important traits of this fish. These resources pave the way for implementing genomic selection programs in aquaculture and fisheries, which will play a crucial role in enhancing the genetic improvement of farmed fish for sustainable production.
The Genome Sequencing Project at ICAR-NBFGR is directed by Dr Vindhya Mohindra, funded by ICAR-Consortium Research Platform on Genomics, and coordinated by Dr Joykrushna Jena, Deputy Director General (Fisheries Science) ICAR.
