Comparative transcriptomic analysis of Macrobrachium nipponense in response to Aeromonas veronii or Staphylococcus aureus infection

Macrobrachium nipponense is an economically important freshwater prawn that is often threatened by many aquatic pathogens. In this study, comparative transcriptomic analysis was firstly used to explore the transcriptional response of M. nipponense to Aeromonas veronii or Staphylococcus aureus stimulation. A total of 400.19 million clean reads were obtained and assembled into 56 944 unigenes with an average length of 1 253 bp. A total of 1 857 differentially expressed genes were found after A. veronii infection, including 677 genes that were up-regulated and 1 180 genes that were down-regulated, while 1 061 significant differentially expressed genes were identified after S. aureus infection, including 390 up-regulated and 671 down-regulated genes. Many immune-related genes including Spaetzle, prophenoloxidase activating factor, C-type lectin, anti-lipopolysaccharide factor, and inhibitor of apoptosis 2 protein were commonly up-regulated after A. veronii or S. aureus infection. This study will enrich our understanding of the immune response to gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria infection in crustaceans.