Pigmentation abnormalities are a common problem in flatfish aquaculture, which significantly reduces the commercial value of affected fish. In turbot, these abnormalities mainly manifest as pseudoalbinism (a partial or total absence of dark pigmentation on the ocular side) or ambicolouration (total darkness on the blind side). The cause of the relatively high incidence of pigmentation anomalies is unknown but it is likely due to complex interactions between genetic and environmental factors. To elucidate the genetic basis of altered pigmentation, we estimated the heritability of this trait and conducted genome-wide association studies (GWAS) on turbot with both normal and altered pigmentation patterns. A cohort of 783 individuals from 10 families underwent genotyping using a low-density SNP panel, while their parents underwent whole-genome sequencing. Based on genotyped data, the heritability of this trait was found to be 0.65±0.09. GWAS identified two possible candidate SNPs on chromosomes 10 and 15, respectively, which explain, however, a low proportion of the phenotypic variance. This study indicates that normal pigmentation can be included as a selection target in selective breeding programmes. Additional analyses, which involve imputing low-dense genotypes to whole-genome sequences of the parental turbot are expected to provide valuable information and improve the accuracy of the results

Poster.-- 7th International Symposium on Genomics in Aquaculture, Thessaloniki, 22-24 May 2024.-- Encontros IIM 5ª fase, Vigo, 28 de xuño de 2024

This work was supported by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 (PID2021-1236511OB-100) with funding by Union Next Generation EU/PRTR

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