Fish genomics and its impact on fundamental and applied research of vertebrate biology

Abstract

The living fishes span a unique and interesting set of animals because of their vast diversity, morphology, ecology, genetics and genomics, and higher importance to biology, economy and culture. During the past decade, the remarkable increase in fish genome sequencing has revolutionized comparative and evolutionary genomics, with the outcome of stimulating insights into vertebrate genome biology. Fish genomics has been transformed rapidly, with the availability of high-quality chromosome level genome assemblies and large collections of sequencing datasets, which are roadmaps for striking discoveries. Landmark achievements are being made; such as the accomplishment of fully assembled lungfish genome which is biggest genome ever sequenced. Here, we highlight current developments in vertebrate’s comparative genomics and discuss how fish genomes could be considered as vital resources for genomic studies. We present a recent overview of genomics data, address different approaches applicable to comparative genomics analyses, and illustrate these comparisons to better understand the complex mechanisms under the vertebrate genomes. We also summarize the applications in chromosomes research and cytogenomics. Graphic abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]