Transcriptomic analysis reveals the genes associated with aeration-caused lordosis in largemouth bass and blunt snout bream

Skeletal deformity has many negative effects on fish, such as changing external morphology, decreasing swimming performance, impairing feeding capability and increasing susceptibility to diseases, ultimately leads to reduced growth and increased mortality. Skeletal deformity of fish causes significant economic losses and limits sustainable development of aquaculture. Largemouth bass (LMB) is widely farmed around the world due to the delicious taste, free of intramuscular bones and fast growth rate; however, aquaculture of LMB is faced with the issues of skeletal deformity. High rates of spontaneous lordosis (inward curvature of the spine) were observed for the lab-raised LMB fries, but the genes associated with this abnormality remain unknown. To explore the core genes associated with lordosis of LMB, 12 normal and 12 deformed fries were sampled at 23 dpf (days post fertilization). The trunk portion without visceral tissues and fins was collected for each fry. The samples were subjected to total RNA extraction and gene expression was analyzed by RNA sequencing.