First draft genome sequence of the rock bream in the family Oplegnathidae

The rock bream (<i>Oplegnathus fasciatus</i>) is one of the most economically valuable marine fish in East Asia. Various factors including temperature changes, pathogenic infections, and disorders related to hereditary and somatic mutations have led to huge revenue losses in production. In order to attempt to overcome these issues on the molecular scale, reference genome sequences are needed. In this study, we constructed the first draft genome for the family <i>Oplegnathidae (O. fasciatus) </i>to develop genetic bio-markers for the above-mentioned problems. The <i>O. fasciatus </i>genome size was estimated to be 780 Mb based on 235 Gb of fragmented sequences that were assembled into a 766-Mb draft genome. From the draft genome, 23,338 genes were predicted and the gene coverage was estimated by comparing the core eukaryotic genes. In total, 81.9% of core eukaryote genes were present in the total gene contents. Moreover, 97% of the genes were obtained the functional terms from similar fish genomes. To the best of our knowledge this is the first draft genome for the family <i>Oplegnathidae</i>.