title: Differentially-Expressed Genes Associated with Faster Growth of the Pacific Abalone, Haliotis discus hannai.
abstract: The Pacific abalone Haliotis discus hannai is used for commercial aquaculture in Korea. We examined the transcriptome of Pacific abalone Haliotis discus hannai siblings using NGS technology to identify genes associated with high growth rates. Pacific abalones grown for 200 days post-fertilization were divided into small-, medium-, and large-size groups with mean weights of 0.26 ± 0.09 g, 1.43 ± 0.405 g, and 5.24 ± 1.09 g, respectively. RNA isolated from the soft tissues of each group was subjected to RNA sequencing. Approximately 1%-3% of the transcripts were differentially expressed in abalones, depending on the growth rate. RT-PCR was carried out on thirty four genes selected to confirm the relative differences in expression detected by RNA sequencing. Six differentially-expressed genes were identified as associated with faster growth of the Pacific abalone. These include five up-regulated genes (including one specific to females) encoding transcripts homologous to incilarin A, perlucin, transforming growth factor-beta-induced protein immunoglobulin-heavy chain 3 (ig-h3), vitelline envelope zona pellucida domain 4, and defensin, and one down-regulated gene encoding tomoregulin in large abalones. Most of the transcripts were expressed predominantly in the hepatopancreas. The genes identified in this study will lead to development of markers for identification of high-growth-rate abalones and female abalones.
authors.affiliation: Department of Fishery Biology, PuKyong National University, Busan 608-737, Korea. coawls@pukyong.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Mi-Jin
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, PuKyong National University, Busan 608-737, Korea. gundokim@pknu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Gun-Do
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Fishery Biology, PuKyong National University, Busan 608-737, Korea. jongkim@pknu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Jong-Myoung
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Marine and Fisheries Resources, Mokpo National University, Muan 534-729, Korea. limhk@mokpo.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Han Kyu
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Lim
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019295:Computational Biology / Q000379:methods; D049851:Gastropoda / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D063990:Gene Ontology; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D058977:Molecular Sequence Annotation; D009928:Organ Specificity / Q000235:genetics; D019655:Quantitative Trait, Heritable; D059467:Transcriptome
keywords: differentially expressed genes; growth; pacific abalone