Transcriptome analysis of the venom gland of Paravaejovis schwenkmeyeri by RNA-seq

The telsons of four specimens of the Mexican scorpion Paravaejovis schwenkmeyeri were dissected, from which total RNA was extracted. A cDNA library was constructed that was further subjected to RNA-seq by Illumina. The reads were assembled de novo with Trinity and annotated with Trinotate. A total of 8,858,816 reads were obtained, which assembled into 77,108 putative transcripts. From them, 44,043 where identified matching gene sequences in databases. A subgroup was annotated, of which 6,979 matched known arthropod genes. A total of 549 putative transcripts were identified with sequence similarity to annotated genes from arachnids, 289 of which corresponded specifically to scorpions.