China has produced the world’s first complete genome map for a fish after scientists completed the genome sequencing of the grass carp, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
According to the report, the achievement was published together with the research results in the Nature Genetics journal on May 4, Monday.
The report said that the Chinese Academy of Sciences' (CAS) Institute of Hydrobiology, the National Center of Gene Research, and Sun Yat-sen University carried out the genome sequencing as a three-year collaborative project.
Based on molecular biology and genetics, a genome is the full complement of an organism's DNA, made up of complex molecules that determine the formation and function of all living organisms. The size of an organism's genome is measured by the number of bases it contains. These base pairs are considered to be the building blocks of DNA.
"The research has helped us to understand the evolutionary history of the grass carp, and it's of great importance to the breeding of stronger species in the future," Wang Yaping, the project's lead scientist and a researcher with Institute of Hydrobiology, was quoted as saying.
Wang added that the research on the grass carp will be beneficial especially in understanding human diseases, because the grass carp has the same viral and bacterial diseases as humans.
The results of the research on the grass carp was published together with the complete genome sequencing of the fish.
Experts said that the grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idellus) makes up 16 percent of the world's cultured fish. In many countries of the world, the grass carp, a vegetarian fish, is bred and cultured in fish farms. China is considered the world's largest grass carp culturing country.