Differential gene expression in the body wall of the sea cucumber (Apostichopus japonicus) under strong lighting and dark conditions

RNA-seq provided a general overview of the gene expression profiles of the body walls of A. japonicus exposed to strong light (“light”), normal light (“control”) and fully dark (“dark”) environment. Overall design: The animals were then divided randomly into three groups. One group of sea cucumbers was maintained as the control group with natural light (“control”) with the light intensity around 100 lux; the other two groups were exposed to strong (“hard”) light exposure (“light”) with the light intensity around 2,000 lux, and in a fully dark tank covered by a shade cloth (“dark”) for 2 hours.