Transcriptomic responses to low temperature stress in the Manila clam, Ruditapes philippinarum.
The Manila clam, Ruditapes philippinarum, is an economically important shellfish in marine aquaculture, with a broad thermal tolerance. The ability to cope with cold stress is quite important for the survival of aquatic species under natural conditions. A cold-tolerant clam that can survive the winter at temperatures below 0 °C might extend our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the response to cold stress. In this study, the transcriptional response of the Manila clam to cold stress (-1 °C) was characterized using RNA sequencing. The transcriptomes of a cold-treatment (O) group of clams, which survived under cold stress, and the control group (OC2), which was not subjected to cold stress, were sequenced with the Illumina HiSeq platform. In all, 148,593 unigenes were generated. Compared with the unigene expression profile of the control group, 1760 unigenes were up regulated and 2147 unigenes were down regulated in the O group. Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes analyses revealed that signal transduction, mitochondrial metabolism, cellular component organization or biogenesis, and energy production processes were the most highly enriched pathways among the genes that were differentially expressed under cold stress. All these pathways could be assigned to the following biological functions in the cold-tolerant Manila clam: signal response to cold stress, antioxidant response, cell proliferation, and energy production.
Engineering and Technology Research Center of Shellfish Breeding in Liaoning Province, Dalian Ocean University, Dalian, 116023, China; Key Laboratory of Mariculture and Stock Enhancement in North China's Sea, Ministry of Agriculture, Dalian Ocean University, Dalian, 116023, China.
Hongtao
H
Nie
Engineering and Technology Research Center of Shellfish Breeding in Liaoning Province, Dalian Ocean University, Dalian, 116023, China; Key Laboratory of Mariculture and Stock Enhancement in North China's Sea, Ministry of Agriculture, Dalian Ocean University, Dalian, 116023, China.
Liwen
L
Jiang
Engineering and Technology Research Center of Shellfish Breeding in Liaoning Province, Dalian Ocean University, Dalian, 116023, China.
Zhongming
Z
Huo
Engineering and Technology Research Center of Shellfish Breeding in Liaoning Province, Dalian Ocean University, Dalian, 116023, China.
Lianhui
L
Liu
Engineering and Technology Research Center of Shellfish Breeding in Liaoning Province, Dalian Ocean University, Dalian, 116023, China.
Feng
F
Yang
Engineering and Technology Research Center of Shellfish Breeding in Liaoning Province, Dalian Ocean University, Dalian, 116023, China; Key Laboratory of Mariculture and Stock Enhancement in North China's Sea, Ministry of Agriculture, Dalian Ocean University, Dalian, 116023, China. Electronic address: yanxiwu@dlou.edu.cn.
Xiwu
X
Yan
D000818:Animals; D049872:Bivalvia / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000502:physiology*; D003080:Cold Temperature; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000235:genetics*; D059467:Transcriptome
Cold temperature; Illumina sequencing; Quantitative real-time PCR; Ruditapes philippinarum; Transcriptome