Comparative transcriptome analysis of the gills and hepatopancreas from Macrobrachium rosenbergii exposed to the heavy metal Cadmium (Cd 2+ )

Abstract

Heavy metal Cadmium (Cd2+) pollution has become a severe environmental problem for aquatic organisms. In crustaceans, gills and hepatopancreas play a vital role in the toxicology. However, in Macrobrachium rosenbergill, there are few researches about gill and hepatopancreases responding to Cd2+ stress at a molecular level. In this study, transcriptomic analysis was applied to characterize gene expression profiles of gills and hepatopancreas of M. rosenbergill after Cd2+ exposure for 0 h, 3 h and 3 d. Six cDNA libraries (Gi 0 h, Gi 3 h, Gi 3 d, Hp 0 h, Hp 3 h, and Hp 3 d) were constructed and a total of 66,676 transcripts and 48,991 unigenes were annotated. Furthermore, differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were isolated by comparing the Cd2+ treated time-point libraries (3 h and 3 d group) with the control library (0 h group). The results showed that most of the DEGs were down-regulated after Cd2+ exposure and the number of DEGs among gill groups were significantly higher than those among hepatopancreas groups. GO functional and KEGG pathway analysis suggested many key DEGs in response to the Cd2+ stress, such as metallothionein and Hemocyanin. Additionally, a total of six DEGs were randomly selected to further identify their expressional profile by qPCR. The results indicated that these DEGs were involved in the response to Cd2+. This comparative transcriptome provides valuable molecular information on the mechanisms of responding to Cd2+ stress in M. rosenbergii, which lays the foundation for further understanding of heavy metals stress.

Partial replacement of seawater with crude salt in giant freshwater prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii hatchery operation

“…Our result is completely in agreement with Shuhaimi-Othman et al (2011) in terms of the relationship between Cu concentration with survival and production, as Cu is a functional part of respiratory protein hemocyanin. High concentrations of Zn and Pb act as osmoregulatory inhibitors in freshwater prawns PL, the lack of substantial influence of Zn and Pb suggests crude salt as a suitable option for larvae rearing (Liu et al, 2021).…”