Advances in European sea bass genomics and future perspectives

Only recently available sequenced and annotated teleost fish genomes were restricted to a few model species, none of which were for aquaculture. The application of marker assisted selection for improved production traits had been largely restricted to the salmon industry and genetic and Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) maps were available for only a few species. With the advent of next generation sequencing the landscape is rapidly changing and today the genomes of several aquaculture species have been sequenced. The European sea bass, Dicentrarchus labrax, is a good example of a commercially important aquaculture species in Europe for which in the last decade a wealth of genomic resources, including a chromosomal scale genome assembly, physical and linkage maps as well as relevant QTL have been generated. The current challenge is to stimulate the uptake of the resources by the industry so that the full potential of this scientific endeavor can be exploited and produce benefits for producers and the public alike.