Li Yuquan, Lai Shoumin, Wang Renjie, Zhao Yuchao, Qin Hao, Jiang Lingxu, Li Na, Fu Qiang, Li Chao
Marine Science and Engineering College, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao, 266109, China.
State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062, China.
Mar Biotechnol (NY). 2017 Feb;19(1):89-101. doi: 10.1007/s10126-017-9731-2. Epub 2017 Jan 30.
Desiccation tolerance has been long considered as an important trait for the life survival under acute environmental stress. One of the biggest problems for modern commercial crab farming is desiccation during transportation; high mortality could occur following the aerial exposure. In this regard, here, we utilized RNA-seq-based transcriptome profiling to characterize the molecular responses of swimming crab in response to aerial exposure. In present study, following aerial exposure, the gill samples were sequenced at 0, 6, 12, and 18 h. And the sequenced reads were assembled into 274,594 contigs, with average length of 735.59 bp and N50 size of 1262 bp. After differential expression analysis, a total of 1572 genes were captured significantly differentially expressed, and were categorized into antioxidant/oxidative stress response, chaperones/heat shock proteins, immune alteration, cell proliferation/apoptosis, and cytoskeletal. Our analysis revealed the dramatic tissue oxidant stress and the alteration of the tissue epithelial integrity, especially many genes that have not been reported in crab species. With the limited functional information in crab, further studies are needed and underway in our lab to further characterize the key cellular actors governing the crab tolerance to aerial exposure. Taken together, our results provide molecular resources for further identification of key genes for desiccation tolerance, and to facilitate the molecular selection and breeding of desiccation tolerant strain and family.
长期以来，耐干燥能力一直被视为生物在急性环境压力下生存的重要特性。现代商业蟹养殖面临的最大问题之一是运输过程中的干燥；空中暴露后可能会出现高死亡率。在这方面，我们利用基于RNA测序的转录组分析来表征游泳蟹对空中暴露的分子反应。在本研究中，空中暴露后，在0、6、12和18小时对鳃样本进行测序。测序读数被组装成274,594个重叠群，平均长度为735.59 bp，N50大小为1262 bp。经过差异表达分析，共捕获到1572个显著差异表达的基因，并将其分为抗氧化/氧化应激反应、伴侣蛋白/热休克蛋白、免疫改变、细胞增殖/凋亡和细胞骨架等类别。我们的分析揭示了显著的组织氧化应激和组织上皮完整性的改变，尤其是许多在蟹类物种中尚未报道的基因。由于蟹类的功能信息有限，我们实验室正在进行进一步的研究，以进一步表征控制蟹类耐空中暴露能力的关键细胞因子。综上所述，我们的结果为进一步鉴定耐干燥关键基因提供了分子资源，并有助于耐干燥品系和家系的分子选择和育种。
