mRNA sequencing of the rhizocephalan Loxothylacus panopaei

The rhizocephalan Loxothylacus panopaei is a parasitic barnacle that infects mud crab species of the family Panopeidae in its native range of the Gulf of Mexico and in its introduced range in the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. RNAseq was performed on tissue samples of two parasite externae from infected crabs collected in Louisiana and Maryland, USA. Reads were used in related projects to assemble a parasite transcriptome against which reads derived from the host crabs were screened to remove contamination.