Transcriptomic profiles of the sponge Aplysina aerophoba in response to wounding. Wounding-induced transcriptomic responses in the sponge Aplysina aerophoba

Sponges (Phylum Porifera) have high regenerative capacity and are among the earliest-diverging animals, providing unique insights into the evolution of animal wound healing; yet, they remain largely understudied. Here, we investigated the transcriptomic responses to injury caused by a natural predator (i.e., grazing) or by clipping with a scalpel (i.e., mechanical damage), in comparison to control sponges. We run three different experiments and collected samples 3h, 1d, and 6d post-treatment, respectively, for differential gene expression analysis on RNA-seq data.