Pacific bluefin tuna genome sequencing. Thunnus orientalis

The tunas (genus Thunnus) are important fishery species with high market value worldwide. In Japan, cultivation of Pacific bluefin tuna (Thunnus orientalis) has been conducted. This fish is a difficult species to breed because its physiology is not fully understood. In particular, the sex-determination gene and the regulatory cascade are still unknown. In this project, we decode the draft genome of a male Pacific bluefin tuna and compare it with the existing female genome sequence to detect sex-associated regions.