mRNA profile provides novel insights into stress adaptation in mud crab megalopa, Scylla paramamosain after salinity stress

BACKGROUND: Mud crab, Scylla paramamosain, a euryhaline crustacean species, mainly inhabits the Indo-Western Pacific region. Wild mud crab spawn in high-salt condition and the salinity reduced with the growth of the hatching larvae. When the larvae grow up to megalopa, they migrate back to estuaries and coasts in virtue of the flood tide, settle and recruit adult habitats and metamorphose into the crablet stage. Adult crab can even survive in a wide salinity of 0-35 ppt. To investigate the mRNA profile after salinity stress, S. paramamosain megalopa were exposed to different salinity seawater (low, 14 ppt; control, 25 ppt; high, 39 ppt).

RESULTS: Firstly, from the expression profiles of Na+/K+/2Cl- cotransporter, chloride channel protein 2, and ABC transporter, it turned out that the 24 h might be the most influenced duration in the short-term stress. We collected megalopa under different salinity for 24 h and then submitted to mRNA profiling. Totally, 57.87 Gb Clean Data were obtained. The comparative genomic analysis detected 342 differentially expressed genes (DEGs). The most significantly DEGs include gamma-butyrobetaine dioxygenase-like, facilitated trehalose transporter Tret1, sodium/potassium-transporting ATPase subunit alpha, rhodanese 1-like protein, etc. And the significantly enriched pathways were lysine degradation, choline metabolism in cancer, phospholipase D signaling pathway, Fc gamma R-mediated phagocytosis, and sphingolipid signaling pathway. The results indicate that in the short-term salinity stress, the megalopa might regulate some mechanism such as metabolism, immunity responses, osmoregulation to adapt to the alteration of the environment.

CONCLUSIONS: This study represents the first genome-wide transcriptome analysis of S. paramamosain megalopa for studying its stress adaption mechanisms under different salinity. The results reveal numbers of genes modified by salinity stress and some important pathways, which will provide valuable resources for discovering the molecular basis of salinity stress adaptation of S. paramamosain larvae and further boost the understanding of the potential molecular mechanisms of salinity stress adaptation for crustacean species.