Growth, one of the most important traits monitored in domestic animals, is essentially associated with bone development. To date, no large-scale transcriptome studies investigating bone development in bighead carp have been reported. In this study, we applied Isoform-sequencing technology to uncover the entire transcriptomic landscape of the bighead carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis) in early growth stage, and obtained 63,873 non-redundant transcripts, 20,907 long non-coding RNAs, and 1,579 transcription factors. A total of 381 alternative splicing events were seen in the frontal and parietal bones with another 784 events simultaneously observed in the vertebral bones. Coupling this to RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) data, we identified 27 differentially expressed unigenes (DEGs) in the frontal and parietal bones and 45 DEGs in the vertebral bones in the fast-growing group of fish, when compared to the slow-growing group of fish. Finally, 15 key pathways and 20 key DEGs were identified and found to be involved in regulation of early growth such as energy metabolism, immune function, and cytoskeleton function and important cellular pathways such as the arginine and proline metabolic pathway (p4ha1), FoxO signaling pathway (sgk1), cell adhesion molecules (b2m, ptprc, and mhcII), and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor signaling pathway (scd). We established a novel full-length transcriptome resource and combined it with RNA-seq to elucidate the mechanism of genetic regulation of differential growth in bighead carp. The key DEGs identified in this study could fuel further studies investigating associations between growth and bone development and serve as a source of potential candidate genes for marker-assisted breeding programs.

生长是家畜监测的最重要特征之一，本质上与骨骼发育有关。迄今为止，尚未报道调查鳙鱼骨骼发育的大规模转录组研究。在这项研究中，我们应用异构体测序技术来揭示鳙鱼的整个转录组图谱（鲢鱼）在生长早期，获得了63,873个非冗余转录本、20,907个长非编码RNA和1,579个转录因子。在额骨和顶骨中总共观察到 381 个选择性剪​​接事件，在椎骨中同时观察到另外 784 个事件。将其与 RNA 测序 (RNA-seq) 数据结合起来，我们在快速生长的鱼群中，与生长缓慢的鱼群相比，在额骨和顶骨中发现了 27 个差异表达的单基因 (DEG)，在椎骨中发现了 45 个差异表达的基因 (DEG)。一群鱼。最终，鉴定出15条关键通路和20个关键DEG，发现它们参与调节能量代谢、免疫功能、细胞骨架功能等早期生长以及精氨酸和脯氨酸代谢通路等重要细胞通路。 p4ha1 ）、FoxO信号通路（ SGK1 ）、细胞粘附分子（乙二米, PTPRC ， 和心肌酶II ）和过氧化物酶体增殖物激活受体信号通路（ scd ）。我们建立了一种新型的全长转录组资源，并将其与RNA-seq相结合，阐明了鳙鱼差异生长的遗传调控机制。 本研究中确定的关键 DEG 可以推动进一步研究生长和骨骼发育之间的关联，并作为标记辅助育种计划的潜在候选基因的来源。