Characterization and gene mining of BAC resource of Clarias magur for their potential applications in genomic research

Bacterial artificial chromosomes (BAC) libraries are valued genomic resources for preserving the genetic material of an organism. The end sequences of BAC clones can help in determining overlapping regions of clones to improve genome assembly and to select clones having genes of interest. The mapping of the ends’ sequences of BAC clones using bioinformatic tools resulted in 18 BAC clones mapping on 17 scaffolds of Clarias magur genome on which 38 genes were present. Gene enrichment analysis indicated the involvement of several genes in vital functions. Protein– Protein Interaction Network analysis revealed two types of interactions among 14 nodes (genes) and 17 edges (adamts5, cth1, mta2, nos2a, odc1, slc7a5, taf6l, TIMM21, herc1, kif18a, rb1cc1, scly, uba2, adamts1, crocc2, smyhc3, and tpma). The ADAMTS1, ADAMTS5, and uba2 genes were involved directly and indirectly in growth. Several genes playing key roles in the functions of gonad, brain, and nervous systems were discovered. Physical mapping of selected clones using FISH revealed the presence of DNA probe signals on the 11th and 12th chromosome pairs of C. magur. The study indicated the presence of important genes on the 18 undertaken clones and has helped in understanding the genome structure of the species and their evolution with respect to related species by comparative genomics.