title: Transcriptome analysis of red swamp crawfish Procambarus clarkii reveals genes involved in gonadal development.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The red swamp crawfish, Procambarus clarkii, has become one of the most economically important cultured species in China. Currently, little is known about the gonadal development of this species. Isolation and characterization of genes are an initial step towards understanding gonadal development of P. clarkii.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Using the 454 pyrosequencing technology, we obtained a total of 1,134,993 high quality sequence reads from the crawfish testis and ovary libraries. We aimed to identify different genes with a potential role in gonad development. The assembly formed into 22,652 isotigs, distributed by GO analysis across 55 categories in the three ontologies, 'molecular function', 'cellular component', and 'biological processes'. Comparative transcript analysis showed that 1,720 isotigs in the ovary were up-regulated and 2138 isotigs were down-regulated. Several gonad development related genes, such as vitellogenin, cyclin B, cyclin-dependent kinases 2, Dmc1 and ubiquitin were identified. Quantitative real-time PCR verified the expression profiles of 14 differentially expressed genes, and confirmed the reliability of the 454 pyrosequencing.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings provide an archive for future research on gonadal development at a molecular level in P. clarkii and other crustacean. This data will be helpful to develop new ideas for artificial regulation of the reproductive process in crawfish aquaculture.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Exploration and Utilization of Aquatic Genetic Resources, Shanghai Ocean University, Ministry of Education, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Hucheng
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Exploration and Utilization of Aquatic Genetic Resources, Shanghai Ocean University, Ministry of Education, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Zhijun
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Xing
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Xuyi Riverred Crawfish Eco-Park CO. LTD, Xuyi, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Exploration and Utilization of Aquatic Genetic Resources, Shanghai Ocean University, Ministry of Education, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Zhaojun
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Qian
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Xuyi Riverred Crawfish Eco-Park CO. LTD, Xuyi, China.
authors.forename: Hongwei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Exploration and Utilization of Aquatic Genetic Resources, Shanghai Ocean University, Ministry of Education, Shanghai, China; E-Institute of Shanghai Universities, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Jiale
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003400:Astacoidea / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development*; D064211:Connectin / Q000235:genetics; D019926:Cyclin B / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D029941:Fish Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D006066:Gonads / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D059467:Transcriptome
chemical_list: D064211:Connectin; D019926:Cyclin B; D029941:Fish Proteins