July 16, 2025

 

Philippine Genome Center cites role of "next-generation sequencing" in aquaculture

The Philippine Genome Center (PGC) in the University of the Philippines - Visayas (UPV) underscored the contribution of "next-generation sequencing" in the field of aquaculture during the recent conduct of the Farmers' Forum organized by the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center/Aquaculture Department (SEAFDEC/AQD).

 

According to the PGC, the next generation sequencing refers to "the most efficient and cost-effective way of generating high-resolution sequence data to obtain entire genomes, compare sequences among large sets of samples, and analyse genetic variations."

 

Professor Victor Marco Emmanuel Ferriols, Assistant to the Executive Director for PGC Visayas, spoke about the essence of understanding the genome among aquatic animals, leading to food security and conservation.

 

"If a fish grows faster, if a fish grows thicker, understanding their genome will help us determine or decide better breeding programs for selected breeders," Prof. Ferriols said.

 

He likewise mentioned parentage–based tagging as an assessment tool used to ensure the quality of fry used for ponds, cages, and monitoring of the pathogens.

 

"We want to know where the fish actually came from. We know the parentage of our stocks so that we ensure the quality of the fry that we use for our ponds, cages, and monitoring of the pathogens," Ferriols explained, adding that this is similar to what PGC did during the pandemic, such as looking at the COVID variants circulating in the country.

 

Through parentage-based tagging, this contributes to understanding the different pathogens that affect shrimps, fish and other commodities.

 

Ferriols, who also served as the UPV Director of the Institute of Aquaculture, shared that PGC-Visayas focuses on marine and aquatic resources, banking on the strengths of the region of which the UPV is known for being the leader in fishery and aquatic sciences.

 

The strong partnership with State Universities and Colleges and Higher Educational Institutions with growing research capabilities is further crucial to maximise the current sequencing and bioinformatics infrastructure of the country.

 

To note, the PGC is an Omics-focused research center of the UP system that envisions to be the center of excellence in gene discovery and genomics research that translates knowledge into applications beneficial to the communities. 

 

-      Philippine Information Agency