Comparative transcriptomic analysis of Chinese shrimp Fenneropenaeus chinensis infected with white spot syndrome virus

White spot syndrome virus (WSSV) is one of the most lethal viruses in shrimp aquaculture. Compared with other shrimp species, the Chinese shrimp (Fenneropenaeus chinensis) is more susceptible to WSSV. The mortality of WSSV-infected F. chinensis can reach 100% within a week. No effective solution currently exists to solve the WSSV problem in F. chinensis aquaculture. After years of research, we found that individual F. chinensis from the same family can carry different viral loads at the same time post-WSSV infection. To better understand the anti-WSSV mechanism of F. chinensis, we analysed the transcriptomic data from F. chinensis with high and low WSSV loads at the same time post-WSSV infection and from healthy F. chinensis, in a WSSV-resistant group and a WSSV-susceptible group, respectively. We identified more differentially expressed genes in F. chinensis with high WSSV loads than in those with low WSSV loads at the same time post-WSSV infection. Many differentially expressed genes were enriched in Gene Ontology terms related to binding function and the extracellular matrix-receptor interaction pathway, which might play important roles in the anti-WSSV processes among F. chinensis.