The manuscript is freely available, as is the genome data, which has been stored in the NCBI database.
The haploid genome consists of 28 chromosomes, which have been completely sequenced up to their two ends, i.e. from telomere to telomere, and on which the billions of individual DNA segments have been bioinformatically represented in their correct arrangement. The genome consists of a total of 969.62 million nucleotide building blocks. The accuracy of the complete genome sequence is 99.99% or, in other words, only 1 in 10,000 base pairs may not be arranged correctly. For comparison: the human genome sequence is currently specified with an accuracy of 99.999996%. In the so-called BUSCO analysis, which provides information about the completeness and redundancy of the genome data, the catfish genome sequence with a value of 99.2% is in no way inferior to the human genome with the same value.
Following the reference genome for zander (Nguinkal et al. 2019), the FBN has now created the basic prerequisites for modern breeding approaches for this fish species with the African catfish, another economically relevant fish species that is kept in aquaculture. This knowledge can help to improve animal welfare and fish farming and reduce emissions in the future. In addition to gill respiration, the African catfish has developed the ability to utilize atmospheric oxygen. It is remarkable that the 50 genes responsible for this are now known and enable exciting research into the evolution of this physiological peculiarity.
