A group of researchers led by Professor Dr Taslima Khanam of the Department of Fisheries Biology and Genetics at the Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) have constructed the first ever genome sequence of native Stinging Shing. They also claim to have identified possible genes that determine male and female fish.
The research team includes Nityanand, Swarna, Halima, Jasmine, Kaniz and Sara. All of them are postgraduate students of the same department.
Professor Dr Taslima Khanam said that initially they started the work as part of a self-funded project during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Later, the genome sequencing phase of Shing was successfully conducted with funding from Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) during the period of 2022-2024. Samples of native Shing were collected from the Brahmaputra River and were sent for DNA sequencing at The University of Tokyo, Japan. This was done by using the most sophisticated next generation sequencing technology (PacBioHiFi Long Read from Revio).
Later, the first ever draft genome of Shing was constructed through bioinformatic analysis of the sequenced data through using a supercomputer.
Taslima Khanam, the chief researcher of the project, revealed this information at a press conference on Wednesday.
BAU Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Emdadul Haque Chowdhury, Dean of the Faculty of Fisheries Professor Dr Md Rafiqul Islam Sardar were present on the occasion.
During a presentation, Dr Taslima Khanom said that Shing and Magur together contribute about 2.52% of the total inland fish production of Bangladesh. World-wide climate change, natural calamities like flood, extensive and unplanned fishing, destruction of natural habitats are the main reasons for the decline of this fish species.
She said the results related to the constructed draft genome and sex-determining gene identification were presented in an international conference organized by the Japanese Society of Fisheries Science earlier this year 2024. Not only the sex-determining gene but also other commercially important traits such as growth, immune system and stress related genes can be extracted from the newly constructed and high-quality draft genome of Shing. Monosex Shing production will be possible by marker-assisted selection using the results from this study, which will be a faster, easier and cheaper technique compared to traditional breeding and hormone treatment.
Prior to this, Dr Taslima started genome sequencing work and sex-determining gene identification involving Tilapia in 2013 as a PhD student at the University of Stirling in the UK. To date, eight of her research articles have been published in reputed international journals related to her field of expertise.
Professor Dr Taslima also expressed hope that if she gets adequate infrastructure facilities and research support, she will be able to use her research results to produce monosex Horn fish, which will play a groundbreaking role in Bangladesh's fish production and food security. In addition to this research, she developed two fish probiotics from locally collected Horn and Tilapia fish at the BAU in 2022, which have yielded promising results in various modern and conventional farming methods.
