Project description:Population Genomics and Environmental DNA Analysis of the Critically Endangered Acipenser dabryanus for Conservation Prioritization
Project description:The Chinese sturgeon (Acipenser sinensis) is anadromous fish distributed in Yangtze River and East China Sea. In this study, we reported cleft-palate Chinese sturgeons in artificial population for the first time. In order to explore the genetic basis of palate malformation in A. sinensis, Illumina RNA-seq technology was used to analyze the transcriptome data of normal and cleft-palate individuals in farmed Chinese sturgeons. Raw reads were obtained and assembled into 808,612 unigenes, with an average length of 509.33 bp and an N50 of 574 bp. Sequence similarity analyses against four public databases (Nr, Uniprot, KEGG and COGs) found 158,642 unigenes that can be annotated. GABAergic synapse and TGF-β signal pathway were the most two enriched pathways with high Richfactor in the analyses of different expressed genes. In these two signal pathways, six genes (GABRA4, GS, GNS, S6K, PITX2, and BMP8) were found as cleft-palate genes in Chinese sturgeon. These findings contribute to our understanding of the genetic basis of cleft palate in sturgeon, while simultaneously adding to our knowledge about craniofacial development.
Project description:Sturgeon species are threatened or endangered worldwide due to habitat loss and increasing pollution. An epithelial cell culture model promises to help investigate hazardous environmental exposures. The stratified squamous integument of green and white sturgeons (Acipenser medirostris and transmontanus, respectively) and cells cultured from their epithelia expressed substantial levels of TGM1-like transglutaminases, types I and II keratins and aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) proteins analogous to those in mammalian integument.
