No abstract

where good management practices on aquaculture are mandatory. The economic and ecological importance of prawns of the Genus Macrobrachium cause an impact at a global level involving economic, academic and social aspects. Macrobrachium americanum appears as one of the genus species with high nutritional value and an economic demand in the national and international markets, as well as a vital income for fisherman and producers of this species. For researchers, it is a challenge to find solutions to culture and propose conservation measures for M. americanum with emphasis on development, nutrition and reproduction. Although there are scientific studies supporting the economic importance of this species, our knowledge about its cultivation, reproduction and conservation is limited. This paper summarizes the latest studies made in cooperation with M. americanum in research lead by the Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas del Noroeste, Mexico. After several years of continuous research, it is considered that those efforts have produced useful information for the sustainable exploitation, conservation and basic management practices of this species.

The river prawn, Macrobrachium americanum (M. americanum), is one of the largest prawns of the genus in Latin America and is an amphidromous species distributed along the Pacific coast of America. This prawn has commercial value due to its size and taste, making it a good option for aquaculture production. Its culture has been attempted in ponds and concrete tanks, but no successful technique can still support commercial production. Understanding the mechanisms that regulate reproduction at the molecular level is very important. This knowledge can provide tools for manipulating transcripts, which could increase the number or size of animals in the culture. However, our understanding of the mechanism that regulates the reproduction of M. americanum at the molecular level is limited. In this study, we performed transcriptome assembly of the testes, vas deferens, and terminal ampulla of M. americanum. The cDNA library was constructed and sequenced for each tissue to identify novel transcripts. A combined transcriptome with the three tissues was assembled using Trinity software. Unigenes were annotated using BLASTx and BLAST2GO. The transcriptome assembly generated 1,059,447 unigenes, of which 7,222 genes had significant hits (e-value < 1x10− 5) when compared against the Swiss-Prot database. Around 75 genes were related to sex determination, testis development, spermatogenesis, spermiogenesis, fertilization, maturation of testicular cells, neuropeptides, hormones, hormone receptors, and/or embryogenesis. These results provide new molecular information about M. americanum reproduction, representing a reference point for further genetic studies of this species.