Identification of Genes Involved in Digestion from Transcriptome of Parasesarma pictum and Parasesarma affine Hepatopancreas

Although the representative species of Sesarmidaes, mudflat crab Parasesarma pictum and P. affine, are primarily herbivorous crabs, very little information is available about these transcriptomes. To identify the key genes those are responsible for the digestion systems in these crabs, we investigated transcriptomic profiles of the hepatopancreas in P. pictum and P. affine. Hundreds of unigenes in P. pictum and P. affine were classified related to food digestion and absorption by blast annotation, and many of them were annotated as digestive enzymes that played key roles during food digestion process. Remarkably, we presented the first report that these two Parasesarma genus species had four types of alpha amylase genes and two types of EGs. This transcriptomic information about P. pictum and P. affine will be helpful in further study of crustacean biology and the molecular basis of the herbivorous diet in crabs.