High-quality Japanese flounder genome aids in identifying stress-related genes using gene coexpression network.

The Japanese flounder is one of the most economically important marine flatfish. However, due to the increased frequency of extreme weather events and high-density industrial farming, an increasing number of environmental stresses have become severe threats to the healthy development of the Japanese flounder culture industry. Herein, we produced a high-quality chromosome-scale Japanese flounder genome using PacBio Circular Consensus Sequencing technologies. The assembled Japanese flounder genome spanned 588.22 Mb with a contig N50 size of 24.35 Mb. In total, 105.89 Mb of repetitive sequences and 22,565 protein-coding genes were identified by genome annotation. In addition, 67 candidate genes responding to distinct stresses were identified by gene coexpression network analysis based on 16 published stress-related RNA-seq datasets encompassing 198 samples. A high-quality chromosome-scale Japanese flounder genome and candidate stress-related gene set will not only serve as key resources for genomics studies and further research on the underlying stress responsive molecular mechanisms in Japanese flounder but will also advance the progress of genetic improvement and comprehensive stress-resistant molecular breeding of Japanese flounder.