Comparative genomic analysis of different sexes and diet-specific amino acid mutation identification in Ancherythroculter nigrocauda

Abstract

Determining the sex and controlling the sex ratio are essential aspects of fish genetics that can assist in developing successful fish breeding programs. High quality genome assembly and annotations are prerequisites to determine sex-specific genes and their expression. In addition, analysis of resequencing data can identify genomic difference between male and female fishes. In this study, we performed chromosome-level genome assembly in female Ancherythroculter nigrocauda fish having low heterozygosity using PacBio reads. High-throughput chromatin conformation capture (HiC) yielded a genome of size 1054.05 Mb, with a contig N50 length of 3.40 Mb and a scaffold N50 length of 42.68 Mb. In addition, we sequenced 5 female and 5 male A. nigrocauda samples and identified sex-specific regions on LG20 Furthermore, diet-specific amino acid mutation were found on 582 genes between herbivorous and carnivorous fishes, with 26 of them exhibiting significantly different expression patterns in the liver tissue of these two types of fishes. The chromosome-level genome assembly of A. nigrocauda provides valuable resources for conducting in-depth comparative genomic studies with immense applications in fish genetic breeding and farming. Similarly, the diet-specific amino acid mutations are useful in the breeding of new strains of carnivorous fishes with an herbivorous diet.

Keywords: Comparative genomic analysis; Diet-specific amino acid mutation; Sex-specific region.