Conclusions
The Macquarie perch and golden perch genomes reported here triple the
number of genomes available for Percichthyidae, the only other available
genome being that of the Murray cod (Austin et al., 2017). These
resources will facilitate population genomic and functional genomic
research in Percichthyidae and development of reliable sexing markers
for different populations, thus contributing to species management and
conservation. Percichthyidae present a promising model for studying sex
chromosome turnover, and the role of sex chromosomes in adaptation and
speciation. Our study provides a novel candidate sex-determination gene
and a distal enhancer for a key developmental gene for future studies.
This makes Macquarie perch one of few fish species with a localized
candidate sex-determining mechanism. Involvement of SOX1b in sex
determination broadens the roles of this major developmental gene.