Helostoma temminkii or kissing gouramis is a tropical freshwater fish typical from Southeast Asian countries. The most distinctive feature of this fish is its mouth: it is large and highly protrusible and it reminds of human lips, that is why it has become a popular aquarium fish.
The main goals of this project are:
Identify the genes that set up the selenoproteome of Helostoma temminkii through bioinformatic methods.
Compare the selenoproteins of Helostoma temminkii with the selenoproteome of Danio rerio and other species in order to establish evolutionary relationships.
Contribute to the description of a newly sequenced species as Helostoma temminkii.
Highlight the importance of a correct characterization of selenoproteins since they are generally misannotated.