Identification of genomic regions regulating sex determination in Atlantic salmon using high density SNP data

Background A complete understanding of the genetic basis for sexual determination and differentiation is necessary in order to implement efficient breeding schemes at early stages of development. Atlantic salmon belongs to the family Salmonidae of fishes and represents a species of great commercial value. Although the species is assumed to be male heterogametic with XY sex determination, the precise genetic basis of sexual development remains unclear. The complexity is likely associated to the relatively recent salmonid specific whole genome duplication that may be responsible for certain genome instability. This instability together with the capacity of the sex-determining gene to move across the genome as reported by previous studies, may explain that sexual development genes are not circumscribed to the same chromosomes in all members of the species. In this study, we have used a 220 K SNP panel developed for Atlantic salmon to identify the chromosomes explaining the highest proportion of the genetic variance for sex as well as candidate regions and genes associated to sexual development in this species.