Chromosomal studies on color variants of Asian arowana Scleropages formosus (Teleostei, Osteoglossiformes)

• Grant number: 18/14677-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: November 01, 2018
• End date: November 30, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics - Animal Genetics
• Principal Investigator: Marcelo de Bello Cioffi
• Grantee: Gustavo Akira Toma
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde (CCBS). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 21/13180-3 - Satellitome analysis and chromosome painting in the color variants of S. formosus and in the other two Scleropages species (Teleostei, Osteoglossiformes), BE.EP.IC

Abstract

The species Scleropages formosus (Asian arowana) is one of the most expensive ornamental fish species in the market and, due to this fact; it has been widely exploited in its natural habitats being now listed as one of the species with one of the highest risk of extinction. However, little information is known about its genome organization. Unlike the other arowana species already described, the Asian Arowana has at least five naturally known color variants. They all appear to have originated from different regions of Southeast Asia, probably connected by freshwater habitats during the Pleistocene ice ages. However, the taxonomic nature of these variant forms is not yet fully understood and there are doubts as to the status of these variants as representative of one or several species. Thus, this project intends to analyze 05 color variants (Green, Silver, Gold Crossback, High back Golden and Super Red) of the species S. formosus using conventional (Giemsa staining and C-banding) and molecular cytogenetics [ rDNA, Microsatellites, Comparative Genomic Hybridization (CGH) and Chromosome Painting (WCP)] experiments in order to verify whether there is a differentiation between them at the chromosome level that supports the separation of these variants into distinct species.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

KRETSCHMER, RAFAEL; GOES, CAIO AUGUSTO GOMES; BERTOLLO, LUIZ ANTONIO CARLOS; EZAZ, TARIQ; PORTO-FORESTI, FABIO; TOMA, GUSTAVO AKIRA; UTSUNOMIA, RICARDO; DE BELLO CIOFFI, MARCELO. Satellitome analysis illuminates the evolution of ZW sex chromosomes of Triportheidae fishes (Teleostei: Characiformes). CHROMOSOMA, v. 131, n. 1-2, p. 17-pg., 2022-01-31. (20/11669-2, 18/14677-6)

TOMA, GUSTAVO A.; DOS SANTOS, NATALIA; DOS SANTOS, RODRIGO; RAB, PETR; KRETSCHMER, RAFAEL; EZAZ, TARIQ; BERTOLLO, LUIZ A. C.; LIEHR, THOMAS; PORTO-FORESTI, FABIO; HATANAKA, TERUMI; et al. Cytogenetics Meets Genomics: Cytotaxonomy and Genomic Relationships among Color Variants of the Asian Arowana Scleropages formosus. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES, v. 24, n. 10, p. 17-pg., 2023-05-19. (21/13180-3, 18/14677-6, 20/11772-8)

YANO, CASSIA FERNANDA; SEMBER, ALEXANDR; KRETSCHMER, RAFAEL; CARLOS BERTOLLO, LUIZ ANTONIO; EZAZ, TARIQ; HATANAKA, TERUMI; LIEHR, THOMAS; RAB, PETR; AL-RIKABI, AHMED; VIANA, PATRIK FERREIRA; et al. Against the mainstream: exceptional evolutionary stability of ZW sex chromosomes across the fish families Triportheidae and Gasteropelecidae (Teleostei: Characiformes). Chromosome Research, v. 29, n. 3-4, OCT 2021. (19/04877-0, 20/11669-2, 20/11772-8, 18/14677-6)