BRANFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In a study published online this week in Nature, an international team of researchers report the first complete sequence of the Atlantic cod genome and an unexpected discovery of the unique immune system of this important fish species. Led by researchers from the University of Oslo, a consortium of Norwegian universities and aquaculture institutions turned to 454 Sequencing Systems from Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) to obtain a comprehensive de novo assembly of the highly complex cod genome at a fraction of the time and cost of traditional sequencing methods. Strikingly, the researchers found that Atlantic cod has lost genes that are essential for a critical component of its immune system. The findings call to question fundamental ideas on the evolution of the immune system in all vertebrate species.
