De novo assembly and transcriptome characterization of the freshwater prawn Palaemonetes argentinus: Implications for a detoxification response

Abstract

Palaemonetes argentinus, an abundant freshwater prawn species in the northern and central region of Argentina, has been used as a bioindicator of environmental pollutants as it displays a very high sensitivity to pollutants exposure. Despite their extraordinary ecological relevance, a lack of genomic information has hindered a more thorough understanding of the molecular mechanisms potentially involved in detoxification processes of this species. Thus, transcriptomic profiling studies represent a promising approach to overcome the limitations imposed by the lack of extensive genomic resources for P. argentinus, and may improve the understanding of its physiological and molecular response triggered by pollutants. This work represents the first comprehensive transcriptome-based characterization of the non-model species P. argentinus to generate functional genomic annotations and provides valuable resources for future genetic studies. Trinity de novo assembly consisted of 24,738 transcripts with high representation of detoxification (phase I and II), anti-oxidation, osmoregulation pathways and DNA replication and bioenergetics. This crustacean transcriptome provides valuable molecular information about detoxification and biochemical processes that could be applied as biomarkers in further ecotoxicology studies.

Impacts of multiple anthropogenic stressors on the transcriptional response of Gammarus fossarum in a mesocosm field experiment

“…Salt stress is known to regulate the expression of enzymes involved in detoxification of superoxide radicals e.g. superoxide dismutases or glutathione S-transferases [38,39]. We found two putative glutathione transferase enzyme genes, which were exclusively regulated under increased salinity concentrations (namely TRINITY_DN1113_c0_g1, upregulated when only salinity was increased and TRINITY_DN613487_ c0_g1, downregulated when increased salinity was combined with reduced flow velocity).…”