A transcriptome analysis of mitten crab testes (Eriocheir sinensis)

Abstract

The identification of expressed genes involved in sexual precocity of the mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis) is critical for a better understanding of its reproductive development. To this end, we constructed a cDNA library from the rapid developmental stage of testis of E. sinensis and sequenced 3,388 randomly picked clones. After processing, 2,990 high-quality expressed sequence tags (ESTs) were clustered into 2,415 unigenes including 307 contigs and 2,108 singlets, which were then compared to the NCBI non-redundant (nr) protein and nucleotide (nt) database for annotation with Blastx and Blastn, respectively. After further analysis, 922 unigenes were obtained with concrete annotations and 30 unigenes were found to have functions possibly related to the process of reproduction in male crabs – six transcripts relevant to spermatogenesis (especially Cyclin K and RecA homolog DMC1), two transcripts involved in nuclear protein transformation, two heat-shock protein genes, eleven transcription factor genes (a series of zinc-finger proteins), and nine cytoskeleton protein-related genes. Our results, besides providing valuable information related to crustacean reproduction, can also serve as a base for future studies of reproductive and developmental biology.

Male Sexual Development and the Androgenic Gland: Novel Insights through the de novo Assembled Transcriptome of the Eastern Spiny Lobster,<b><i> Sagmariasus verreauxi</i></b>

“…To this end, several studies have applied transcriptomics in the context of sexual development in the commercial Decapods, but the majority have done so through the isolated analyses of certain tissues, namely the gonads [Leelatanawit et al, 2009[Leelatanawit et al, , 2011Jung et al, 2011;Zhang et al, 2011;He et al, 2012;Gao et al, 2014;Jiang et al, 2014;Powell et al, 2015].…”

Adult male morphotype variation in giant freshwater prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii): Genomic and experimental analysis of factors affecting the male social dominance hierarchy

“…Top-hit species distribution matched to the non-redundant database, showed similar results to that reported in other crustacean taxa (Jung et al, 2011;Zhang et al, 2011;Li et al, 2012).…”

“…Macrobrachium nipponense, Macrobrachium rosenbergii, Eriocheir sinensis and some penaeid shrimp taxa (Jung et al, 2011;Leekitcharoenphon et al, 2010;Ma et al, 2012;Zhang et al, 2011).…”

Comparative transcriptomic analysis provides insights into the molecular basis of the metamorphosis and nutrition metabolism change from zoeae to megalopae in Eriocheir sinensis

“…Studies on transcriptomes of E. sinensis have been performed in different adult tissues (Jiang et al, 2009;Zhang et al, 2011;He et al, 2012He et al, , 2013Li et al, 2013), and only one transcriptome for the first zoeae at larval stage was reported . In our study, comparative transcriptomic analysis between the fifth zoeae and megalopae of E. sinensis was performed.…”