Abstract

Previously, we reported the identification, tissue distribution and confirmed the roles of Spfoxl-2 in regulating vitellogenin ( vtg ) expression in Scylla paramamosain . Here, we primally analyzed its potential target genes in the ovary with RNAi and RNA-Seq technology. By comparing the transcriptome data of two groups (ovaries that injected with EGFP and Foxl-2 siRNA, respectively), we found 645 DEGs (differentially expressed genes), including several conserved crucial genes involved in ovarian development, such as vtg , vitellogenin receptor ( vtgR ), adenylate cyclase ( AC ), cyclinB , and cell division cycle 2 ( cdc2 ). In addition, these DEGs were also enriched in pathways related to ovary development, including relaxin signaling pathway, ovarian steroidogenesis, and progesterone-mediated oocyte maturation. Moreover, several genes were selected for qRT-PCR to validate the accuracy of the bioinformatic result. To the best of our knowledge, the current study was the first report about foxl-2 function through comparative transcriptome analysis in crustacean species, which identified not only relevant genes and pathways involved in ovarian development of S. paramamosain , but also provided new insights into the regulatory mechanisms of foxl-2 at the molecular level in crustacean.