Siniperca chuatsi Transcriptome or Gene expression

Body size is an obvious and important characteristic of fish. The Chinese perch or mandarin fish Siniperca chuatsi (Basilewsky) is one of the most valuable food perciform species widely cultured in China. Individual difference in body size still exists in the aquaculture production, but little is known about the genes regulating body size in Chinese perch. In the present study, to elucidate the relationship between gene expression and body size, transcriptome sequencing and digital gene expression profiling were performed in big-size group and small-size group of Chinese perch at 30 and 180 dph. Body weight, total length and body length of big-size group were significantly higher than those of small-size group both at 30 and 180 dph (P < 0.05). 2,171 and 2,014 differentially expressed genes were identified between small-size group and big-size group at 30 and 180 dph, respectively, involved in the growth hormone–insulin-like growth factor (GH–IGF) axis, cell proliferation and differentiation, appetite control, glucose metabolism, reproduction and sexual size dimorphism pathways.