Prof. Liu introduced the genetic background of catfish first, such as its genome size and chromosome configuration etc. Based on the genetic background, Prof. Liu and his colleagues formulated the scheme for whole genome sequencing of catfish. Employing approaches like BAC-end sequencing, construction of full-length cDNA library, construction of physical map, they performed contig scaffolding and annotation of genes in catfish. So far, this study of whole genome sequencing of catfish has achieved great success. The finished contig scaffolding could cover 98.5% of the catfish genome, and the average Gap length is 53bp. Prof. Liu also summed up some issues existing in the genomic study of fishes.  

Prof. Liu is a Distinguished Alumni Professor and Associate Dean for Research in the College of Agriculture, Auburn University. He has been engaged in aquaculture genetics and genomics research for over 20 years. He has published over 2000 papers and two books. He has served as the Coordinator of the USDA National Animal Genome Project for Aquaculture, Editor for Marine Biotechnology, Associate Editor for BMC Genomics and BMC Genetics, and as an editorial board member for Aquaculture and Animal Biotechnology. He is a Fellow of AAAS. He received his B.S. from Northwest Agricultural University in China, and his M.S. and Ph.D. from University of Minnesota.