Comparative transcriptome analysis reveals differential expression of sex-related genes in androgenic glands and ovaries of Macrobrachium rosenbergii

Macrobrachium rosenbergii is an economically important crustacean worldwide. Based on the important role of the androgenic gland (AG) in sex determination in crustaceans, this study comparatively analyzed the transcriptomes of AG and ovary tissues using Illumina sequencing technology. A total of 91,810 unigenes were generated from the six libraries after splicing and assembly, and 28,516 (31.1%) were annotated by BLASTx comparison with Nr and other databases. A total of 20,793 differentially expressed genes including 105 potentially related to sex determination and sex differentiation were identified in both tissues, of which 69 were upregulated in the ovary, 19 were upregulated in AG, 12 were ovary-specific, and 5 were AG-specific. This study screened out differentially expressed genes related to sex determination and differentiation by comparing the transcriptome expression differences between the ovary and AG of M. rosenbergii, accumulating important data for further studies on the mechanisms of sex determination and differentiation in M. rosenbergii.