Characterization of the pacu (Piaractus mesopotamicus)skeletal muscle transcriptome

Abstract

Pacu (Piaractus mesopotamicus) has excellent characteristics such as rapid growth, a parameter which is directly related to the increase skeletal muscle. Research involving the muscular characterization of genes has been performed using molecular technologies in model fish, such as Zebrafish, which has its genome sequenced. In pacu, a species that does not have the genome sequenced, this lack of genetic information makes it difficult to carry out researches related to the identification of signaling pathways that regulate development, growth and maintenance of muscle phenotype. The use of sequencing next generation (Next-Generation Sequencing), such as Roche pyrosequencing 454, which is a method of sequencing, and effective and rapid progressive increase in the coverage to obtain sequences of genes transcribed (transcriptome de novo) in non-model species of fish, such as pacu. This technology makes it possible to generate a reference sequence of the transcriptome for the study of global gene expression, identification of gene duplication (paralogs), resulting from duplication genome, and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) , and allows future sequencing of transcriptomes and genomes of other species phylogenetically related. This work aims: 1) sequencing and characterize the transcriptome in the muscle of pacu using the Roche 454 pyrosequencing to produce a reference sequence of transcriptome, 2) determine the differentially expressed genes responsible for controlling muscle phenotype red and white, 3) quantify (validate) the expression of genes relevant to the muscle phenotype using the technique of polymerase chain reaction after Quantitative reverse transcription (RT-qPCR). The results obtained make it possible to establish a solid foundation for future studies of skeletal muscle in Brazilian species of economic importance in aquaculture, in different experimental conditions.