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Tilapia Genome To Be Sequenced
Fish Farming International January 2007, p. 7, vol. 34, no. 1, received Jan. 18, 2007
Heighway Albert House, 1-4 Singer Street, London EC2A 480, UK, Editor: Kenny McCaffrey, e-mail kenny.mccaffreyinforma.com, subscriptions: cuan.joannides@informa.com
The genome of the Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) is to be sequenced by the National Human Genome Research Institute in the USA, using a line of fish developed in the Tropical Aquarium facilities of the Institute of Aquaculture, University of Sterling.
The human genome sequence was only completed in 2003, and other vertebrates have been added more recently, including model fish such as the puffer fish, which has a very small genome.
Sequencing of the zebra danio genome - important studies on vertebrate development - is ongoing. The tilapia will be one of the first fish of interest to aquaculture to be sequenced.
Having access to the complete genome sequence will greatly help in the identification of genes that affect important aquaculture traits such as growth rate disease resistance and maturity, and should facilitate selection to improve such traits for aquaculture and the development of other biotechnology-based techniques.
The line of fish from which the DNA will be sequenced is a completely homozygous (inbred) line developed by gynogenesis (induced maternal-only inheritance). This means that both copies of each DNA sequence in such fish will be identical, making the process of analysing the DNA sequence easier than in outbred animals, where the DNA inherited from the mother and father will differ to some extent and can lead to some problems in checking for sequencing errors.
Gynogenetic lines can be produced in two generations in fish and have already been used for studies, for example, on sex determination, immune responses and behaviour (inbred lines in mice, in contrast, take many generations to produce and are not completely homozygous.
The application for this sequencing project, submitted by the International Cichlid Genome Consortium, was headed by Professor Tom Kocher, from the University of Maryland, with partners from several other labs in the USA, Europe and Japan.
Three other species of cichlids will also be sequenced to a lower coverage, furthering studies on cichlid evolution as well as tilapia aquaculture and genetics.
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