“Out of the can”: a draft genome assembly, liver transcriptome and nutrigenomics of the European sardine, Sardina pilchardus

Clupeiformes, such as sardines and herrings, represent an important
share of worldwide fisheries. Among those, the European sardine (Sardina pilchardus,
Walbaum 1792) exhibits significant commercial relevance. While the last
decade showed a steady and sharp decline in capture levels, recent
advances in culture husbandry represent promising research avenues. Yet,
the complete absence of genomic resources from sardine imposes a severe
bottleneck to understand its physiological and ecological requirements.
We generated 69 Gbp of paired-end reads using Illumina HiSeq X Ten and
assembled a draft genome assembly with an N50 scaffold length of 25,579
bp and BUSCO completeness of 82.1% (Actinopterygii). The estimated size
of the genome ranges between 655 and 850 Mb. Additionally, we generated a
relatively high-level liver transcriptome. To deliver a proof of
principle of the value of this dataset, we established the presence and
function of enzymes (Elovl2, Elovl5, and Fads2) that have pivotal roles
in the biosynthesis of long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, essential
nutrients particularly abundant in oily fish such as sardines. Our
study provides the first omics dataset from a valuable economic marine
teleost species, the European sardine, representing an essential
resource for their effective conservation, management, and sustainable
exploitation.