Advances in Research on Functional Genes and Economic Traits in Fish

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal Genetics and Genomics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 12 May 2025 | Viewed by 1331

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory of Mariculture Biobreeding and Sustainable Goods, Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China
Interests: fish; functional genomics; genetics; immunity; stress resistance

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory of Mariculture Biobreeding and Sustainable Goods, Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China
Interests: fish; functional genes; breeding; growth trait

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory of Mariculture Biobreeding and Sustainable Goods, Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China
Interests: fish; functional genes; sex regulation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Fish with a high nutritional value both provide a rich source of high-quality protein for human consumption and play a crucial role in maintaining ecosystem balance.

In recent years, with the extensive development of economic fish genome resources, emerging technologies such as sex control, chromosome manipulation, genomic selection, genome editing, and big data technology have been rapidly applied to the genetic breeding of fish. As a result, the aquaculture seed industry has undergone dramatic, innovative changes that urgently need to be integrated and shared among peers.

We are pleased to invite you to submit original research articles, reviews, communications, commentaries, and case reports to this Animals Special Issue. The aim is to identify the functional genes and economic traits of fish, which hold great importance in establishing advanced molecular breeding techniques and developing new fish germplasm with exceptional traits. The research areas may therefore include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • breeding of disease resistance;
  • transcriptomics analyses;
  • mitochondrial genome and phylogenetic analysis;
  • chromosome-level genome assembly;
  • application of multi-omics analysis and cell molecular biology techniques.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Linna Wang
Dr. Zhentong Li
Dr. Zhangfan Chen
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • fish
  • functional genomics
  • functional genes
  • economic traits

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 5412 KiB  
Article
Molecular Mechanism of the Grid Gene Family Regulating Growth Size Heteromorphism in Cynoglossus semilaevis
by Yaning Wang, Yadong Chen, Yang Liu and Songlin Chen
Animals 2025, 15(8), 1130; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani15081130 - 14 Apr 2025
Viewed by 256
Abstract
There are obvious individual differences in the growth and development of Cynoglossus semilaevis, mainly due to female bias. We selected 500 female Cynoglossus semilaevis of different sizes for GWAS and transcriptome analysis to screen for differential genes. qPCR was performed to detect [...] Read more.
There are obvious individual differences in the growth and development of Cynoglossus semilaevis, mainly due to female bias. We selected 500 female Cynoglossus semilaevis of different sizes for GWAS and transcriptome analysis to screen for differential genes. qPCR was performed to detect the expression of the genes in various tissues, and RNAi experiments were performed in testicular cells to knock down the grid1 and grid2 genes and transcriptome sequencing was performed to check the changes of the downstream genes. Grid gene was screened for the common genes by GWAS sequencing and transcriptome sequencing. In the QPCR results, the expression of the grid gene family was negatively correlated with fish size, and was slightly higher in males than in females; in the transcriptome results, the expression of shcbp1, sass6, cdca7, and gh was up-regulated, and the expression of igf1 was down-regulated. It is speculated that igf1 has an antagonistic effect on gh, which is deregulated when the grid gene family is knocked down. The grid gene family may affect the growth of individual Cynoglossus semilaevis through the gh-igf1 axis, which provides a basis for the study of the differences in the growth size of Cynoglossus semilaevis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Research on Functional Genes and Economic Traits in Fish)
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21 pages, 5691 KiB  
Article
A 5′ Promoter Region SNP in CTSC Leads to Increased Hypoxia Tolerance in Changfeng Silver Carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix)
by Nannan Feng, Xiaohui Li, Hang Sha, Xiangzhong Luo, Guiwei Zou, Jiquan Zhang and Hongwei Liang
Animals 2025, 15(4), 532; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani15040532 - 13 Feb 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 723
Abstract
Silver carp is a critically significant species in freshwater aquaculture in China, characterized by its limited tolerance to hypoxia. In this study, a significant SNP locus at Chr8: 29647765 (T/C) associated with hypoxia tolerance traits was identified in Changfeng silver carp, and the [...] Read more.
Silver carp is a critically significant species in freshwater aquaculture in China, characterized by its limited tolerance to hypoxia. In this study, a significant SNP locus at Chr8: 29647765 (T/C) associated with hypoxia tolerance traits was identified in Changfeng silver carp, and the homozygotic CC genotype exhibited higher hypoxic tolerance than the homozygotic TT and heterozygotic TC genotypes. Under hypoxic conditions, the hemoglobin concentration increased, with the CC genotype demonstrating a significantly higher level compared with the TT genotype; the activities of antioxidant enzymes including catalase and superoxide dismutase were significantly higher in the CC genotype than in the other genotypes; the area of the gill lamellae was significantly smaller in the CC genotype than in the TT and TC genotypes; and the number of apoptotic cells in the brain was significantly lower in the CC genotype than in the TT and TC genotypes. Sequence analysis showed that this SNP was located in the promoter region of the cathepsin C (CTSC) gene. The expression levels of the CTSC gene were analyzed across the three genotypes, revealing that the CC genotype exhibited significantly lower expression compared with the TT and TC genotypes under hypoxia. This finding suggests that the SNP associated with the CC genotype leads to reduced CTSC expression, which may facilitate better physiological adaptation to hypoxia. Analysis of the promoter region of CTSC found a unique predicted hypoxia-inducible factor 1-alpha (HIF-1α) binding site (CGTG) in the T genotype, implying that the differential expression of CTSC among the three genotypes under hypoxic stress may be regulated by HIF-1α, a transcription factor integral to hypoxia adaptation, thereby affecting hypoxia tolerance, which further affects the immune response of the Changfeng silver carp in response to the hypoxic environment. Although SNPs represent significant genetic determinants, their phenotypic effects are predominantly mediated through complex interactions within gene regulatory networks and environmental influences. This study identified an effective SNP site in Changfeng silver carp, providing valuable guidance for future selective breeding and the development of new hypoxia-tolerant varieties. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Research on Functional Genes and Economic Traits in Fish)
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