Gene expression profiles during larval development for pearl oyster, Pinctada fucata

A microarray analysis has been employed to study the knowledge of different developmental stages and the related gene expression profiles of P.fucata. Our study focused on the global genes expression profiles of the fertilized egg, trochophore, D-shaped stage, umbonal stage, juvenile of P.fucata. Fertilized eggs were harvested immediately after insemination, the trochophore stage, D-shaped stage, umbonal stage larvae and juvenile stage samples were then collected at 24h, 48h, 14days or 35days after a microscopy counting to ensure more than 80% of the individuals had reached the certain growing stages. The collected larvae were snap-frozen in liquid nitrogen, and stored at -80°C. In total, 15 pools of samples from 5 different developmental stages larvae were used for the microarray analysis. Three biological replicates were employed in each developmental stage.