Complete Mitochondrial Genome Sequences of Five Rockfishes (Perciformes: Sebastes)

Phylogenetic relationships of three rockfish: Sebastesmelanops, Sebastesciliatus and Sebastesvariabilis (Scorpaeniformes, Scorpaenidae) based on complete mitochondrial genome sequences

We characterise the complete mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) of Black rockfish (Sebastesmelanops Girard, 1856; n = 1), Dark rockfish (Sebastesciliatus Tilesius, 1813; n = 2) and Dusky rockfish (Sebastesvariabilis Pallas, 1814; n = 2). The lengths of the mitogenomes are 16,405 bp for S.melanops, 16,400 bp for both S.ciliatus and 16,400 and 16,401 bp for S.variabilis. We examine these species' phylogenetic relationships using 35 previously published rockfish mitogenomes, representing 27 species. We find that S.melanops is sister to a clade consisting of S.rubrivinctus, S.nigrocinctus, S.umbrosus and S.oculatus, whereas S.ciliatus and S.variabilis are sister to a clade consisting of S.norvegicus, S.viviparus, S.mentella and S.fasciatus. We were unable to separate S.ciliatus and S.variabilis using their complete mitogenomes.

Complete mitochondrial genomes of two rockfish: Sebastes maliger and Sebastes norvegicus (Scorpaenidae, Scorpaeniformes)

We report the complete mitochondrial genomes of two rockfish: Sebastes maliger and Sebastes norvegicus. The mitogenomes consist of 13 protein-coding regions, 22 tRNAs, two rRNAs, and one control region. Sebastes mitogenome control regions are highly variable due to the presence of repeat sequences. The mitogenomes for S. maliger and S. norvegicus are 16,403 and 16,401 bp, respectively. Using these two mitogenomes and 25 additional Sebastes mitogenomes from GenBank, we examine the phylogenetic relationships in Sebastes. Sebastes maliger is sister to a clade including S. rubrivinctus, S. nigrocinctus, S. umbrosus, and S. oculatus, while S. norvegicus is sister to S. fasciatus.

The complete mitochondrial genome of rockfish Sebastes oculatus Valenciennes, 1833 from southwest Atlantic ocean

The mitogenome of rockfish, Sebastes oculatus, has been determined for the first time. Assembled mitogenome was 16,767 bp in length, including 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNA and two ribosomal RNA genes as well as the non-coding region. The order and structure are the same as those of other Sebastes species. S. oculatus was sister to S. nigrocinctus and this clade is closely related with S. rubrivinctus, as well as support for previously published complete mitochondrial genome trees (Sandel et al. 2018). The mitogenome of S. oculatus provides significant DNA molecular data for further identification and phylogenetic analysis within Scorpaenid.

The Power of Fish Models to Elucidate Skin Cancer Pathogenesis and Impact the Discovery of New Therapeutic Opportunities

Animal models play important roles in investigating the pathobiology of cancer, identifying relevant pathways, and developing novel therapeutic tools. Despite rapid progress in the understanding of disease mechanisms and technological advancement in drug discovery, negative trial outcomes are the most frequent incidences during a Phase III trial. Skin cancer is a potential life-threatening disease in humans and might be medically futile when tumors metastasize. This explains the low success rate of melanoma therapy amongst other malignancies. In the past decades, a number of skin cancer models in fish that showed a parallel development to the disease in humans have provided important insights into the fundamental biology of skin cancer and future treatment methods. With the diversity and breadth of advanced molecular genetic tools available in fish biology, fish skin cancer models will continue to be refined and expanded to keep pace with the rapid development of skin cancer research. This review begins with a brief introduction of molecular characteristics of skin cancers, followed by an overview of teleost models that have been used in the last decades in melanoma research. Next, we will detail the importance of the zebrafish (Danio rerio) animal model and other emerging fish models including platyfish (Xiphophorus sp.), and medaka (Oryzias latipes) in future cutaneous malignancy studies. The last part of this review provides the recent development and genome editing applications of skin cancer models in zebrafish and the progress in small molecule screening.