Identification of Genes Related to Growth from Transcriptome Profiles of the Muscle and Liver of Chinese Longsnout Catfish

Growth is an economically valuable trait for farmed aquatic animals. The Chinese longsnout catfish is a commercially important freshwater fish species in China. Elucidation of the molecular mechanisms underlying the growth of this species may be of great benefit for selective breeding and yield enhancement. Therefore, we performed a comparative transcriptomic analysis of the Chinese longsnout catfish muscle and liver tissues to identify differentially expressed genes associated with growth traits. A total of 580 and 511 DEGs were identified in the muscle and liver, respectively. The Gene ontology analysis showed that many DEGs were enriched in growth, growth factor activity, and hormone-mediated signaling pathway. The KEGG enrichment analysis indicated that some DEGs involved in the MAPK signaling pathway, Glycolysis/Gluconeogenesis, TGF-beta signaling pathway, and calcium signaling pathway were enriched. We selected 10 DEGs from muscle and liver tissues each for the quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. Similar expression patterns of these genes between the RNA-seq and qRT-PCR assays indicated the reliability of the transcriptome information. Several key genes related to growth. These genes contribute to differences in the growth of the Chinese longsnout catfish by acting on muscle growth and affecting the metabolism of substances. The results of this study enrich the available gene resources and provide valuable references for further studies on the regulatory mechanisms of the growth of the Chinese longsnout catfish.