Hyalella azteca Transcriptome or Gene expression
Juvenile and adult of the ecotoxicological model species Hyalella azteca (Crustacea, Amphipoda) from a commercial vendor were exposed to sublethal concentrations of cadmium chloride (0.5 µg/L), atrazine (20 µg/L), and PCB Aroclor (0.5 µg/L). Detailed protocols for RNA extraction, cDNA synthesis, as well as 454 transcriptomics sequencing, assembly and sequencing analysis can be found at Meyer et al. (2009). A 135k oligonucleotide microarray was designed using the H. azteca 454 sequence data on a Nimblegen platform (12x135k) (Roche Nimblegen).  This study provides the first sequence survey of genes responding to environmental contaminants in freshwater sediments in this sentinel ecotoxicological species and the addition of H. azteca cDNA sequences to public gene sequence databases for comparative analysis of crustacean and insect genes stimulates discoveries on the differences and similarities among major groups within Arthropoda.  Meyer, E., G. V. Aglyamova, S. Wang, J. Buchanan-Carter, D. Abrego, J. K. Colbourne, B. L. Willis, and M. V. Matz. 2009. Sequencing and de novo analysis of a coral larval transcriptome using 454 GSFlx. BMC Genomics 10:219.