Transcriptome analysis of Indian freshwater pearl mussel Lamellidens marginalis to unravel the genes associated with biomineralization

Abstract

Background:The freshwater pearl mussel Lamellidens marginalis is found throughout India and is culturing to produce freshwater pearls. Understanding the process of pearl biomineralization provides insight into the genes responsible for the secretion of the complex nacre. However, information on the transcriptome of L. marginalis pearl sac, mantle tissue and gonads are lacking. Methods and Results: The present study generated the transcriptome resources for L. marginalis and identified genes involved in the biomineralization process in the species. The Illumina paired-end sequencing generated 11.13 million raw reads, and the reads were assembled into 133,246 contigs and 26,373 unigenes. 21,033 out of 26,373 unigenes showed homology with previously reported molluscan proteins. Genes of several proteins associated with biomineralization, namely, pif, perlucin, calreticulin, calmodulin, chitin synthase, chitin dehydrogenase, carbonic anhydrase, tyrosinase, shell matrix protein, chitinase 3, chitinase domain-containing protein 1, chitinase-like protein PB1E7.04c, and putative chitinase-1 were identified in the study. Conclusion: This study's findings will help identify differentially expressed genes that govern the characteristics of the pearl and identify the type-I markers in the genes.

β‐Chitin and chitosan from waste shells of edible mollusks as a functional ingredient

“…At the minimal level, the CHS of different mussels can be sequenced using Sanger sequencing and analyzed. Transcriptome analysis of Lamellidens marginalis (Indian mussel) identified some of the genes involved in chitin biosynthesis such as CHS, chitin deacetylase isoform, chitinase-3, and chitinase domain-containing protein-1 (Suman et al, 2023). As the CHS genes of crustaceans and mollusks were completely different, a comparative analysis of the CHS gene by molecular cloning technique might increase chitin production.…”