A Comparative Transcriptomics Approach to Analyzing the Differences in Cold Resistance in Pomacea canaliculata between Guangdong and Hunan

Jing Liu,Zhiying Sun,Yuande Peng,Zhi Wang

doi:10.1155/2020/8025140

Abstract

Pomacea canaliculata, known as an invasive freshwater snail, is also called a golden apple snail; its survival and expansion are greatly affected by temperature. In this study, high-throughput sequencing (RNA-seq) was used to perform comparative transcriptome analysis on the muscular tissue (G_M) of snails in Guangdong and Hunan. Differential gene screening was performed with FDR <0.05 and |log2FoldChange| >1 as the threshold, and a total of 1,368 differential genes were obtained (671 genes showed upregulation in snails from Guangdong, and 697 genes displayed upregulation in snails from Hunan). Fifteen genes were identified as candidate genes for the cold hardiness of Pomacea canaliculata. Among them, three genes were involved in energy metabolism (glycogen synthase, 1; DGK, 1; G6PD, 1); seven genes were involved in homeostasis regulation (HSP70, 2; BIP, 1; GPX, 1; GSTO 1, G6PD, 1; caspase-9, 1); two genes were involved in amino acid metabolism (glutamine synthetase, 1; PDK, 1); and four genes were involved in membrane metabolism (inositol-3-phosphate synthase, 1; Na+/K+-ATPase, 1; calcium-binding protein, 2). This study presents the molecular mechanisms for the cold hardiness of Pomacea canaliculata, which could provide a scientific basis for the forecast and prevention of harm from Pomacea canaliculata.

Highlights

Pomacea canaliculata is native to freshwater wetlands in South America
Tolerance ability, and supercooling are assumed to be the factors affecting the cold resistance of snails in this study
Cold resistance could be enhanced by increasing the energy supply, by tolerance ability, and by supercooling

Summary

Introduction

Pomacea canaliculata is native to freshwater wetlands in South America. In the early 1980s, it was introduced to China and other Asian countries from Argentina via Taiwan for commercial purposes. P. canaliculata has caused considerable losses to the agricultural economy and threatens ecological security because of its characteristics of miscellaneous feeding, strong environmental adaptability, strong reproduction ability, and a lack of natural enemies. This makes P. canaliculata the only freshwater snail among the 100 worst invasive species in the world [1]. The secretion of an epiphragm allows mollusks to minimize the possibility of inoculative freezing and enhances cold tolerance [6]. The cold hardiness of P. canaliculata increases with the decrease in temperature before winter approaches [7]; the molecular mechanism is unclear. Many properties of P. canaliculata, such as cold tolerance and immunological properties, are controlled

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