title: De Novo Assembly and Characterization of Early Embryonic Transcriptome of the Horseshoe Crab Tachypleus tridentatus.
abstract: The horseshoe crab Tachypleus tridentatus is a unique marine species and a potential model for marine invertebrate. Limited genomic and transcriptional data are currently available to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying the embryonic development of T. tridentatus. Here, we reported for the first time the de novo transcriptome assembly for T. tridentatus at embryonic developmental stage using Illumina RNA-seq platform. Approximate 38 million reads were obtained and further assembled into 133,212 unigenes. Sequence homology analysis against public databases revealed that 33,796 unigenes could be annotated with gene descriptions. Of the annotated unigenes, we identified a number of key components of several conserved metazoan signaling pathways (Hedgehog, Wnt, TGF-beta and Notch pathways) and other important regulatory genes involved in embryonic development. Targeted searching of Pax family genes which play critical roles in the formation of tissue and organ during embryonic development identified a complete set of Pax family genes. Moreover, the full length T. tridentatus Pax1/9a (TtPax1/9a) and Pax1/9b (TtPax1/9b) cDNA sequences were determined based on the transcriptome, demonstrating the immediate application of our database. Using quantitative real time PCR, we analyzed the expression patterns of TtPax1/9a and TtPax1/9b in different tissues of horseshoe crab. Taking advantage of Drosophila model, we further found that TtPax1/9b, but not TtPax1/9a, can partly rescue the Drosophila homolog Poxm dysfunction-caused lethality at the larval stage. Our study provides the embryonic transcriptome of T. tridentatus which could be immediately used for gene discovery and characterization, functional genomics studies in T. tridentatus. This transcriptome database will also facilitate the investigations of molecular mechanisms underlying embryonic development of T. tridentatus and other marine arthropods as well.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Marine Genetic Resources, South China Sea Bio-Resource Exploitation and Utilization Collaborative Innovation Center, Third Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Xiamen, Fujian Province, China.
authors.forename: Mingliang
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Marine Genetic Resources, South China Sea Bio-Resource Exploitation and Utilization Collaborative Innovation Center, Third Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Xiamen, Fujian Province, China.
authors.forename: Chenying
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Marine Genetic Resources, South China Sea Bio-Resource Exploitation and Utilization Collaborative Innovation Center, Third Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Xiamen, Fujian Province, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Marine Genetic Resources, South China Sea Bio-Resource Exploitation and Utilization Collaborative Innovation Center, Third Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Xiamen, Fujian Province, China.
authors.forename: Gubiao
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Marine Genetic Resources, South China Sea Bio-Resource Exploitation and Utilization Collaborative Innovation Center, Third Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Xiamen, Fujian Province, China.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Marine Genetic Resources, South China Sea Bio-Resource Exploitation and Utilization Collaborative Innovation Center, Third Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Xiamen, Fujian Province, China.
authors.forename: Mi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Du
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Marine Genetic Resources, South China Sea Bio-Resource Exploitation and Utilization Collaborative Innovation Center, Third Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Xiamen, Fujian Province, China.
authors.forename: Guosheng
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Marine Genetic Resources, South China Sea Bio-Resource Exploitation and Utilization Collaborative Innovation Center, Third Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Xiamen, Fujian Province, China.
authors.forename: Zengpeng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Marine Genetic Resources, South China Sea Bio-Resource Exploitation and Utilization Collaborative Innovation Center, Third Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Xiamen, Fujian Province, China.
authors.forename: Weiyi
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Center of Marine Biotechnology, Third Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Xiamen, Fujian Province, China.
authors.forename: Xiangzhi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Center of Marine Biotechnology, Third Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Xiamen, Fujian Province, China.
authors.forename: Weibing
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Marine Genetic Resources, South China Sea Bio-Resource Exploitation and Utilization Collaborative Innovation Center, Third Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Xiamen, Fujian Province, China.
authors.forename: Jianming
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D060829:Arthropod Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004330:Drosophila; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D006737:Horseshoe Crabs / Q000737:chemistry / Q000196:embryology* / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D051761:Paired Box Transcription Factors / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA; D059467:Transcriptome
chemical_list: D060829:Arthropod Proteins; D051761:Paired Box Transcription Factors; C119756:pax19 protein, invertebrate