Transcriptome analysis of the venom gland of Centruroides limpidus by RNA-seq

The telsons of ten specimens (5 males and 5 females) of the Mexican scorpion Centruroides limpidus were dissected, from which total RNA was extracted. Two cDNA libraries were constructed (one for males and other for females) that were further subjected to RNA-seq by Illumina. The reads obtained from both libraries, male and female, were merged and de novo assembled with Trinity and then annotated with Trinotate. We obtained a total of 38,364,311 and 41,366,601 reads for males and females respectively. Both libraries were assembled as a single assembly, with 206,284 transcripts. From the latter, 11,058 transcripts where identified as match gene sequences in databases. A total of 366 putative transcripts were identified with sequence similarity to annotated genes from arachnids, 277 of which corresponded to scorpions.