De Novo Assembly, Characterization, and Comparative Transcriptome Analysis of Mature Male and Female Gonads of Rabbitfish (Siganus oramin) (Bloch & Schneider, 1801).

Simple Summary: Siganus oramin, as a commercial species, is a well-received table fish in southeastern China. However, valuable reproduction-related data are still scarce. In the present study, gonad transcriptome analysis was first performed using Illumina Novaseq technology. Comparative transcriptome analysis of adult male and female gonads identified a large number of differentially expressed genes. Among them, many reproduction-related genes that play important roles in gonad differentiation and development were found. These data may contribute greatly to the regulation of rabbitfish reproduction. The rabbitfish, Siganus oramin, is a commercially important table fish in southeastern China. However, there have been few studies on its gonad development and reproduction regulation. Comparative transcriptome analysis was first performed on adult male and female gonads of S. oramin. In total, 47,070 unigenes were successfully assembled and 22,737 unigenes were successfully annotated. Through comparative transcriptome analysis of male and female gonads, a total of 6722 differentially expressed genes were successfully identified, with 3528 upregulated genes and 3154 downregulated genes in the testes. In addition, 39 differentially expressed reproduction-related genes were identified. Finally, quantitative real-time PCR was used to validate the expression levels of several differentially expressed genes. These results provide important data for further studying the function of reproduction-related genes and the molecular mechanism regulating gonad development and reproduction in S. oramin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]