Fish-T1K: An Initiative to Sequence Transcriptomes of 1,000 Fish Species

Fish T1K (1,000 Fish Transcriptomes) is an international initiative that aims to generate genome-wide transcriptome sequences (that is, the majority of expressed genes) for 1,000 different species of fishes. Next-generation RNA sequencing technology (RNA-seq) will be used to generate transcriptome data with unparalleled dimensions and quality, and decode fish biodiversity and address unresolved evolutionary questions in key lineages of fishes. Eventually, this initiative will contribute towards global fish biodiversity conservation efforts and sustainable utilization of natural resources. In addition, the project will promote development of new technologies and software for transcriptome sequencing, data analysis, annotation and storage.

Fish T1K will be driven by high-impact scientific questions on fish biology, comparative physiology, ecology, biogeography and phylogenomics, which would require sequence information from multiple fish species and multiple individuals.  The focus will be on 1) Extreme or unusual biochemical, physiological, morphological adaptations; 2) Evolution of physiological systems such as sex determining system, immune system, etc., and 3) Phylogenetic diversity, which addresses unresolved phylogenetic relationships across fish taxa. Fish T1K will be opened to the larger scientific community who can participate by proposing and supplying representative fish species with wide geographic distribution, as well as local species with economical/medical significance and so on.

 Fish T1K project is initiated and supported by the China National Genebank (CNGB, http://www.nationalgenebank.org), based at BGI – the world’s largest genomic sequencing and bioinformatics center.  A Consortium of Fish-T1K Fish project will be organized to bring together internationally recognized experts in ichthyology, fish taxonomy, molecular biology, cell biology, genomics, evolutionary biology, computational biology and systems biology, and to work closely on the project.