De novo transcriptome assembly of the deep-sea hydrothermal vent, shrimp Rimicaris exoculate (Crustacea: Decapoda), from the south Mid-Atlantic Ridge.

Abstract The deep-sea hydrothermal vent is a special ecosystem, which is different from terrestrial or coastal ecosystems. Rimicaris exoculata, which adapts well to several deep-sea hydrothermal vent environments, is the ideal model for studying hydrothermal vent fauna. In the present study, we obtained R. exoculata from a newly found hydrothermal vent in the south Mid-Atlantic Ridge, and the Illumina next-generation sequencing and de novo assembly were performed by Beijing Genomics Institution. A total of 17,258 annotated Unigenes were obtained. Several Unigenes associated with sulfide metabolism, which might contribute to well adaptation to high concentration of sulfide for R. exoculata, were annotated. This study is the first report on the high-throughput sequencing of R. exoculata. Our data can allow for further studies on the ability of R. exoculata adaptation to harsh conditions and provide abundant gene resources for research and development.