Background The grass carp has great economic value and occupies an important evolutionary position. Genomic information regarding this species could help better understand its rapid growth rate as well as its unique body plan and environmental adaptation. Results We assembled the chromosome-level grass carp genome using the PacBio sequencing and chromosome structure capture technique. The final genome assembly has a total length of 893.2 Mb with a contig N50 of 19.3 Mb and a scaffold N50 of 35.7 Mb. About 99.85% of the assembled contigs were anchored into 24 chromosomes. Based on the prediction, this genome contained 30,342 protein-coding genes and 43.26% repetitive sequences. Furthermore, we determined that the large genome size can be attributed to the DNA-mediated transposable elements which accounted for 58.9% of the repetitive sequences in grass carp. We identified that the grass carp has only 24 pairs of chromosomes due to the fusion of two ancestral chromosomes. Enrichment analyses of significantly expanded and positively selected genes reflected evolutionary adaptation of grass carp to the feeding habits. We also detected the loss of conserved non-coding regulatory elements associated with the development of the immune system, nervous system, and digestive system, which may be critical for grass carp herbivorous traits. Conclusions The high-quality reference genome reported here provides a valuable resource for the genetic improvement and molecular-guided breeding of the grass carp.

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In this study, we used artificial insemination to generate hybrid groups of fish [MC‐F1(MA♀×CA♂) and MC‐F2(MC‐F1♀×♂)] by intergeneric crosses of Megalobrama amblycephala (MA) and Culter alburnus (CA); sequential backcrosses [CAM‐B1 (CA♀×MC‐F1♂) and MCC‐B1 (MC‐F1♀×CA♂)] were also performed. All these hybrids showed high rates of fertilization, hatching and survival (p > 0.05). For genetic traits, compared with those of the M. amblycephala and C. alburnus parental lines (Table 1), the fertilization rate, hatching rate and 7‐day survival rate of MC‐F1(MA♀×CA♂), MC‐F2(MC‐F1♀×♂), CAM‐B1 (CA♀×MC‐F1♂) and MCC‐B1 (MC‐F1♀×CA♂) by artificial insemination exhibited similar high rates (p > 0.05). The morphology of the four hybrids MC‐F1/F2, CAM‐B1 and MCC‐B1 were intermediate between those of their parents. Compared with their parents of MA and CA, weight gain rate (WG), specific growth rate (SGR) and protein efficiency ratio (PER) of hybrids MC‐F1/F2, CAM‐B1 and MCC‐B1 were significantly (p < 0.05) increased and feed conversion ratio (FCR) was significantly (p < 0.05) decreased after 3 months feeding. Moreover, protein content of muscle for MC‐F1/F2, CAM‐B1 and MCC‐B1 was significantly (p < 0.05) higher and carbohydrate content of muscle was significantly (p < 0.05) lower than their parents. The females and males of the four hybrids had normal gonadal development. In this study, we successfully generated intergeneric and backcross hybridization lines with fertile potential among fish of the Cultrinae subfamily and these hybrids had obvious heterosis in terms of growth performance, feed utilization and muscle quality.

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