Screening a new European hake (Merluccius merluccius) chromosome-level genome assembly suggests an XX/XY sex determining system driven by the SRY-box transcription factor 3 (sox3)
Year: 2024

Sex determination is exceptionally diverse and shows high evolutionary rate in fish. European hake (Merluccius merluccius) is a species of great commercial value distributed throughout European coasts, which displays a significant sexual growth dimorphism. We present a chromosome-level genome of M. merluccius, assembled into 215 contigs using long- and short-read sequencing, further scaffolded into the species’ 21 chromosomes using Omni-C (715 Mb). RNA-Seq on several tissues from pooled individu