A telomere-to-telomere chromosome-scale genome assembly of gilthead bream, Sparus aurata

Sparus aurata (NCBI Taxonomy ID: 8175), commonly called gilthead seabream, lives mostly in the eastern Atlantic and along Mediterranean coastlines. It’s a top farmed fish in Europe, with huge economic promise. Moreover, it has traits like sexual dimorphism and strong environmental plasticity. These characteristics make it a key focus for research in fields such as evolutionary biology, disease resistance, and fish biology. The first telomere-to-telomere (T2T) chromosome-scale genome assembly of Sparus aurata was constructed using PacBio HiFi, Nanopore ONT ultra-long read, and Hi-C sequencing.This resource will help with Sparus aurata farming and breeding, as well as research into the evolutionary biology, disease resistance, and fish biology.

金头鲷（Sparus aurata，NCBI分类学ID（NCBI Taxonomy ID）：8175），俗称gilthead seabream，主要分布于东大西洋海域及地中海沿岸区域。作为欧洲养殖规模领先的鱼类，其具备极高的经济开发潜力。此外，该物种兼具性别二态性与极强的环境可塑性，这些特性使其成为进化生物学、抗病机制研究及鱼类生物学等领域的核心研究对象。本研究利用PacBio HiFi、Nanopore ONT超长读长测序及Hi-C测序技术，完成了全球首个端粒到端粒（telomere-to-telomere, T2T）染色体级基因组组装。该基因组资源将为金头鲷的养殖与育种工作，以及进化生物学、抗病机制及鱼类生物学相关研究提供关键支撑。