The fisheries biology and genetics department of Bangladesh Agricultural University at a press conference on Wednesday presented the genome sequence of native Shing and the possible gene identification research that determined male and female fish and its results.
A group of researchers from Bangladesh, Japan and Sweden led by Professor Taslima Khanam of the BAU constructed the first ever genome sequence of native Shing to maintain food and nutritional security, said a press release.聽
The vice-chancellor of the BAU Professor Emdadul Haque Chowdhury, faculty of fisheries dean Professor Md Rafiqul Islam Sardar were present at the press conference held at the conference room of the faculty of fisheries.聽
The research was started with the university鈥檚 own funding in 2020, but later the research was completed with the funding of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science from 2022 to 2024, said Taslima Khanam.
The research team members were Nityanand, Swarna, Halima, Jasmine, Kaniz and Sara, postgraduate students of the department.
The sequencing and gene identification work was carried out at the University of Tokyo in Japan with about 800 spawn samples from eight families of native catfish, said Taslima Khanam, adding that the genome sequence was completed through bioinformatics analysis using state-of-the-art genome sequencing technology and supercomputers.
She also mentioned that the results related to the constructed draft genome and sex-determining gene identification was presented in an international conference organised by the Japanese Society of Fisheries Science, 2024.
Professor Taslima started genome sequencing work and sex-determining gene identification involving tilapia in 2013 as a PhD student at the University of Stirling, UK.