QINGDAO, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese scientists have successfully decoded the genome of the Pacific white shrimp and acquired a high quality reference genome map of the species.

Xiang Jianhai, researcher with Institute of Oceanology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said scientists applied a variety of sequencing technologies, and conducted numerous genome assembly approaches before achieving the results. It took scientists 10 years to complete the study.

Li Fuhua, researcher with the institute, said the decoding of the genome offered important material for the study of crustacean benthic adaptation and molting, and would also help scientists in genomic breading and molecular improvement of the species.

The achievement was published on Jan. 21 in Nature Communications.

The Pacific white shrimp has an annual output of 4.16 million tonnes globally, and China produces a quarter of the total. China imports large quantities of shrimp seedling every year.

The gene decoding can help China develop its own Pacific white shrimp breeds, according to Li.