A ceremony for 2014 National Award for Science and Technology was held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on January 9, 2015. Chinese President Xi Jinping and other CPC and state leaders, Li Keqiang, Liu Yunshan, Zhang Gaoli et al., attended the ceremony and presented the awards to the delegates at the meeting. Prof. Chen Songlin from YSFRI was honored “the 2nd Prize of 2014 National Award for Technological Invention” by the accomplishment of “The exploration of genetic resource and the establishment and application of germplasm creation technology in marine flatfish”. He participated in this national historic event and took group photos with CPC and state leaders.
This achievement was initiated 10 years ago. The work was systematically focused onexploring genetic resource and establishing germplasm creation technology in marine flatfish. Until now, it has successfully established the technological platform for exploring genetic resource and creating high-yield, anti-disease germplasm. Moreover, several original innovations were obtained in multiple fields, such as detailed whole genome mapping, trait-related marker or gene selection, high-yield, anti-disease or all-female germplasm creation et al. The selected breakthroughs were summarized as follows:
1. Deciphered the first flatfish genome in the world; Resolved genomic structure of half-smooth tongue sole (Cynoglossus semilaevis) and Japanese flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus); Explored 4056 SSR polymorphism markers among 11 flatfish species; Constructed the densest SSR-linkage maps of half-smooth tongue sole and Japanese flounder.
2. Discovered sex-specific SSR markers in half-smooth tongue sole, thus overcome the technological difficulty in sex identification; Cloned and characterized 11 sex-related genes, for example, Z chromosome-linked geneDmrt1,was male-specific and designated as an essential gene in spermatogenesis; Established the high-female fry technology in half-smooth tongue sole, increased the female ratio by 20% and solved the long-disturbing problem: low female content in flounder aquaculture.
3. Cloned and characterized 31 immune genes and 5 growth-related genes in half-smooth tongue sole, Japanese flounder and turbot(Scophthalmus maximus); Discovered MHC genes as disease-resistant markers and applied for marker-assisted breeding; Invented the breeding technology for high-yield and anti-disease Japanese flounder, resulting Pingyou No.1 flounder, China’s first variety with increased growth (30%) and survival rate (>20%).
4. Established the methods for gynogenesis induction and pure line construction, and then created flounder clone families; Invented the breeding technology for all-female and high-yield technology, resulting Beiping No.1 flounder. China’s first all-female variety with increased growth rate (~25%).
In the meanwhile, this award generated 145 publications, 76 of which were indexed by SCI including top journals such asNature Genetics. Besides, this project produced 28 patents and 2 new flounder varieties, “Pingyou No.1” and “Beiping No.1”.The extension and commercialization of the two aquaculture varieties and the mass-produced tongue sole high-female fry in coastal provinces yielded great economic benefits. On the other hand, the generated genomic resource was shared with many scientific institutes, evoking enormous social responses. This achievement not only accelerated scientific progress and industrial development in marine aquaculture at present, but also has huge potential in application and promotion in the long term.
It is reported that altogether 318 projects were chosen for the 2014 National Awards in the conference, including the State Natural Science Award (46), the State Technological Invention Award (70) and the National Science and Technology Progress Award (202). The award obtained by Chen Songlin and his research team is the only National Award that has been conferred to work in aquaculture during 2011-2014.
