de novo transcriptome assembly for discovering gene expressed in Holothuria leucospilota with exposed to copper

Abstract

Sea cucumber is a bioremediator as it can composite organic matter and excrete inorganic matter. Sea cucumber has the potential to serve as a bioindicator in marine habitat as they provide an integrated insight into the status of their environment over long periods. Sea cucumbers are sensitive to the organic concentration in the marine environment and can effectively provide an early warning system for any organic contamination that can negatively impact the ecosystem. The availability of a reference transcriptome for sea cucumber would constitute an essential tool for identifying genes involved in crucial steps of the defence pathway. De novo assembly of RNA-seq data enables researchers to study the transcriptomes without needing a genome sequence. In this study, sea cucumbers fed with Kappaphycus alvarezii powder were treated with 0.20 mg/L copper concentration comprehensive transcriptome data containing 75,149 Unigenes, with a total length of 20,460,032 bp. A total of 8820 genes were predicted from the unigenes, annotated, and functionally categorized into 25 functional groups with approximately 20% cluster in signal transduction mechanism. The reference transcriptome presented and validated in this study is meaningful for identifying a wide range of gene(s) related to the bioindication of sea cucumber in a high copper environment.

Keywords:

• de novo transcriptome
• sea cucumber
• copper
• bioindicator
• Kappaphycus alvarezii

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Centre of Excellent for Research Value Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CERVIE) and the Faculty of Applied Sciences of UCSI University and also by Research Excellence & Innovation Grant [REIF-FAS-2021/036], UCSI University, Malaysia.