Identification of ovarian miRNAs in banana shrimp (Fenneropenaeus merguiensis) during ovarian development between non-vitellogenic and vitellogenic shrimp

Abstract

Banana shrimp (Fenneropenaeus merguiensis) is one of the popular shrimp for the consumer while the shrimp farming is not well practice due to its narrow tolerant to the environmental culture that leads to the overfishing crisis. To increase in the population number, the ovarian controlling mechanism need to be identified where the small RNAs particularly microRNAs that could regulate the expression of ovarian genes involved in ovarian development and maturation. Identification of ovarian miRNAs in banana shrimp was performed using the Illumina Hiseq 4000 system. Total 22,785,700 and 23,154,313 clean tag were counted from non-vitellogenic and vitellogenic shrimp respectively with the amount of 58 novel miRNAs. Five known miRNAs including miR-6489, miR-6491, miR-6492, miR-6493 and miR-6494, which are belonging to kuruma shrimp (Marsupenaeus japonicus) were classified together with their target prediction using RNAhybrid tool. Then, the expression of these miRNAs were quantified by RT-qPCR and found higher expression in the vitellogenic stage of all miRNAs than those in the non-vitellogenic stage. Moreover, their predicted targets were confirmed for the binding activity by luciferase assay and intramuscular injection of miRNAs into the shrimp. This data provides more understanding of the roles of some miRNAs in the regulation of the closely related shrimp ovarian gene expression.