Aquaculture Genomics

Abstract

Genomics is the study of the genome. The term genome refers to the entire genetic content of an organism. In most cases, the genetic information is contained in deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecules and as described in the central dogma theory of Francis Crick (1958) the DNA sequence is transcribed into ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecules and then translated from RNA into proteins. The entire RNA and protein content of an organism are referred to as transcriptome and proteome, respectively. Genomics, in the broad sense, includes transcriptomics (study of the transcriptome) and proteomics (study of the proteome), as the genetic signal can be modified during and after the transcription and translation processes. However, the technologies for studying the expression of genes or “functional genomics” are described elsewhere in this book (Chapters 3 and 4), and this chapter focuses on technologies used to study the genetic information stored in the DNA of cultured finfish.