In Silico Detection and FISH Analysis to Determine Location of miRNAs in Solea Senegalensis Chromosomes Using BACs

Abstract

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, non-coding RNAs that play a very important role in gene expression by regulating mRNA cleavage and translation. The Senegalese sole, Solea senegalensis (Kaup 1858), is a flatfish species that shows great potential for marine aquaculture. Nevertheless, the existence of sexual dysfunction of males reared in captivity, high larval mortality, and diseases have hampered its production. The integration of sequence information with data on chromosomal physical location is useful for understanding genetic processes and is essential for comparative analysis, quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping, and positional cloning of genes