Completing a genome is an important goal of genome assembly. However, many assemblies, including reference assemblies, are unfinished and have a number of gaps. Long reads obtained from third-generation sequencing (TGS) platforms can help close these gaps and improve assembly contiguity. However, current gap-closure approaches using long reads require extensive runtime and high memory usage. Thus, a fast and memory-efficient approach using long reads is needed to obtain complete genomes. We developed LR_Gapcloser to rapidly and efficiently close the gaps in genome assembly. This tool utilizes long reads generated from TGS sequencing platforms. Tested on de novo assembled gaps, repeat-derived gaps, and real gaps, LR_Gapcloser closed a higher number of gaps faster and with a lower error rate and a much lower memory usage than two existing, state-of-the art tools. This tool utilized raw reads to fill more gaps than when using error-corrected reads. It is applicable to gaps in the assemblies by different approaches and from large and complex genomes. After performing gap-closure using this tool, the contig N50 size of the human CHM1 genome was improved from 143 kb to 19 Mb, a 132-fold increase. We also closed the gaps in the Triticum urartu genome, a large genome rich in repeats; the contig N50 size was increased by 40%. Further, we evaluated the contiguity and correctness of six hybrid assembly strategies by combining the optimal TGS-based and next-generation sequencing-based assemblers with LR_Gapcloser. A proposed and optimal hybrid strategy generated a new human CHM1 genome assembly with marked contiguity. The contig N50 value was greater than 28 Mb, which is larger than previous non-reference assemblies of the diploid human genome. LR_Gapcloser is a fast and efficient tool that can be used to close gaps and improve the contiguity of genome assemblies. A proposed hybrid assembly including this tool promises reference-grade assemblies. The software is available at http://www.fishbrowser.org/software/LR_Gapcloser/.

A large number of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been identified in common carp (Cyprinus carpio) but, as yet, no high-throughput genotyping platform is available for this species. C. carpio is an important aquaculture species that accounts for nearly 14% of freshwater aquaculture production worldwide. We have developed an array for C. carpio with 250,000 SNPs and evaluated its performance using samples from various strains of C. carpio.

Common carp is one of the most important aquaculture teleost fish in the world. Common carp and other closely related Cyprinidae species provide over 30% aquaculture production in the world. However, common carp genomic resources are still relatively underdeveloped. BAC end sequences (BES) are important resources for genome research on BAC-anchored genetic marker development, linkage map and physical map integration, and whole genome sequence assembling and scaffolding.

Amur ide (Leuciscus waleckii) is an economically and ecologically important cyprinid species in Northern Asia. The Dali Nor population living in the soda lake Dali Nor can adapt the extremely high alkalinity, providing us a valuable material to understand the adaptation mechanism against extreme environmental stress in teleost.

Background: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) exist pervasively across viruses, plants and animals and play important roles in the post-transcriptional regulation of genes. In the common carp, miRNA targets have not been investigated. In model species, single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been reported to impair or enhance miRNA regulation as well as to alter miRNA biogenesis. SNPs are often associated with diseases or traits. To date, no studies into the effects of SNPs on miRNA biogenesis and regulation in the common carp have been reported. Results: Using homology-based prediction combined with small RNA sequencing, we have identified 113 common carp mature miRNAs, including 92 conserved miRNAs and 21 common carp specific miRNAs. The conserved miRNAs had significantly higher expression levels than the specific miRNAs. The miRNAs were clustered into three phylogenetic groups. Totally 394 potential miRNA binding sites in 206 target mRNAs were predicted for 83 miRNAs. We identified 13 SNPs in the miRNA precursors. Among them, nine SNPs had the potential to either increase or decrease the energy of the predicted secondary structures of the precursors. Further, two SNPs in the 3’ untranslated regions of target genes were predicted to either disturb or create miRNA-target interactions. Conclusions: The common carp miRNAs and their target genes reported here will help further our understanding of the role of miRNAs in gene regulation. The analysis of the miRNA-related SNPs and their effects provided insights into the effects of SNPs on miRNA biogenesis and function. The resource data generated in this study will help advance the study of miRNA function and phenotype-associated miRNA identification.

Common carp (Cyprinus carpio), a member of Cyprinidae, is the third most important aquaculture species in the world with an annual global production of 3.4 million metric tons, accounting for nearly 14% of the all freshwater aquaculture production in the world. Apparently genomic resources are needed for this species in order to study its performance and production traits. In spite of much progress, no physical maps have been available for common carp. The objective of this project was to generate a BAC-based physical map using fluorescent restriction fingerprinting. The first generation of common carp physical map was constructed using four- color High Information Content Fingerprinting (HICF). A total of 72,158 BAC clones were analyzed that generated 67,493 valid fingerprints (5.5 × genome coverage). These BAC clones were assembled into 3,696 contigs with the average length of 476 kb and a N50 length of 688 kb, representing approximately 1.76 Gb of the common carp genome. The largest contig contained 171 BAC clones with the physical length of 3.12 Mb. There are 761 contigs longer than the N50, and these contigs should be the most useful resource for future integrations with linkage map and whole genome sequence assembly. The common carp physical map is available at http://genomics.cafs.ac.cn/fpc/WebAGCoL/Carp/WebFPC/ . The reported common carp physical map is the first physical map of the common carp genome. It should be a valuable genome resource facilitating whole genome sequence assembly and characterization of position-based genes important for aquaculture traits.