Table_2_The transcriptional landscape of the giant freshwater prawn: Embryonic development and early sexual differentiation mechanisms.xlsx

The giant freshwater prawn pjMacrobrachium rosenbergii is one of the best studied species in aquaculture. However, the transcriptional changes associated with embryonic development and the sexual differentiation mechanism of M. rosenbergii remain to be elucidated. To characterize the embryonic development of this prawn and to determine whether differential expression and differential splicing play roles in the early sexual differentiation of M. rosenbergii, we profiled five developmental days of male and female embryos by RNA sequencing. We identified modules of co-expressed genes representing waves of transcription that correspond to physiological processes in early embryonic development (such as the maternal-to-zygotic transition) up to preparation for life outside the egg (development of muscles, cuticle etc.). Additionally, we found that hundreds of genes are differentially expressed between sexes, most of them uncharacterized, suggesting that the sex differentiation mechanism of M. rosenbergii might contain clade-specific elements. The resulting first-of-a-kind transcriptional map of embryonic development of male and female M. rosenbergii will guide future studies to reveal the roles of specific genes and splicing isoforms in the embryonic development and sexual differentiation process of M. rosenbergii.

罗氏沼虾（Macrobrachium rosenbergii）是水产养殖中研究最为深入的物种之一。然而，与罗氏沼虾胚胎发育相关的转录变化及其性别分化机制仍有待阐明。为解析该沼虾的胚胎发育特征，并探究差异表达（differential expression）与差异剪接（differential splicing）是否在罗氏沼虾的早期性别分化中发挥作用，我们通过RNA测序（RNA sequencing）对5个发育日龄的雌雄胚胎进行了转录组谱分析。我们鉴定出了共表达基因模块，这些模块对应于早期胚胎发育中的一系列转录浪潮，涵盖从母源-合子转换（maternal-to-zygotic transition）到卵外生命准备（如肌肉、角质层发育等）的各类生理过程。此外，我们发现数百个基因在雌雄间存在差异表达，其中大多数功能尚未注释，这表明罗氏沼虾的性别分化机制可能包含支系特异性的调控元件。本研究构建的首个罗氏沼虾雌雄胚胎发育转录图谱，将为后续研究揭示特定基因及剪接异构体在罗氏沼虾胚胎发育与性别分化过程中的功能提供重要指导。