Current progress on understanding of molecular evolution enabling cold adaptation in Antarctic fishes：a review
XU Qianghua1,2,3, CHEN Liangbiao1,2*
1.Key Laboratory of Exploration and Utilization of Aquatic Genetic Resources，Ministry of Education，Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai 201306, China; 2.International Research Center for Marine Bioscience, Ministry of Science and Technology, Shanghai 201306,China; 3.Key Laboratory of Sustainable Exploitation of Ocean Fisheries Resources, Ministry of Education, Shanghai 201306, China
Abstract: During the period of more than 30 million years of temperature decline, many of the benthic fauna become extinct, only one group of teleosts, members in suborder Notothenioidei survive the climatic change and undergo an adaptive radiation and is the dominant fish fauna in the Southern Ocean as the coldest ocean in the world, with the water temperature of nearshore habitats perennially under 0 ℃. With genomes of many species being sequenced, the molecules and underpinning mechanisms that enable the survival and thriving of these fishes in the subzero waters are gradually unraveled. We briefly review the mechanisms of physiological adaption and genomic evolution in the constant cold fishes including origin of antifreeze proteins, adaptations in erythropoiesis, coping with oxidative stress, iron metabolism, and achievement of neutral buoyancy and drivers of genome expansion, helping the attempts for breeding of enhanced cold tolerant aquaculture varieties.
2021, Vol. 36 
