Genome Secrets Of Indian Oil Sardines Decoded By Marine Scientists

Scientists of Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI)  have decoded the genome of Indian oil sardines fish, to assess climate change impact of fish species.

This is the first time that the genome of a marine fish species from the Indian subcontinent has been decoded. 

The fall and rise in the availability of sardines often impacts the overall marine production in many coastal states. It is considered the backbone of the marine fishery of several states.

About the decoding 

Small pelagic fishes like sardines are considered as model organisms to study the climatic as well as fishing impacts on the Indian Ocean resources, as they respond to variations in environmental and oceanographic parameters.

• Moreover, they are an ecologically important part of the marine ecosystem, as they form an intermediate link in the food web and serve as prey for larger predators.
• Cutting-edge next generation sequencing technology was used to decode the genome. 
• The decoded genome will be a valuable resource for understanding the biology, ecology and evolution of the oil sardine.
• The researchers have also identified the genes involved in the biosynthesis of polyunsaturated fatty acids of the oil sardine, offering insights into the genomic mechanisms behind the high nutritional quality of the fish.

About Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute

Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute was established by the Government of India on February 3rd 1947 under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and later it joined the ICAR family in 1967. 

• During the course of over 75 years the Institute has emerged as a leading tropical marine fisheries research institute in the world.
• The CMFRI devoted its research attention towards the estimation of marine fisheries landings and effort, taxonomy of marine organisms and the bio-economic characteristics of the exploited stocks of finfish and shellfish. 
• This research effort contributed significantly to India’s marine fisheries development from a predominantly artisanal, sustenance fishery till the early sixties to that of a complex, multi-gear, multispecies fishery.
• One of the major achievements of CMFRI is the development and refinement of a unique method for estimation of fishery catch and effort from the over 8000 km coastline called the "Stratified Multistage Random Sampling Method”. 
• With this methodology the Institute maintains the National Marine Fisheries Data Centre (NMFDC) with over 9 million catch and effort data records from all maritime states of India of more than 1000 fished species.
• Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute headquarter is in Kochi, Kerala.