Expressed sequence tag analysis for identification and characterization of genes related to Tributyltin (TBT) exposure in the abalone Haliotis diversicolor supertexta

The analysis of expressed sequence tags (ESTs) is an efficient approach for gene discovery, expression profiling, and the development of resources for functional genomics. To analyze the transcriptome response to tributyltin of small abalone Haliotis diversicolor supertexta, a normalized cDNA library of hepatopancreas after exposure of animals to tributyltin was constructed. Three thousand and forty eight high quality ESTs were generated. After processing, a total of 2473 unigenes comprising 370 contigs and 2103 singlets were acquired. BLAST identified 1108 clones (45%) as known genes. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) and Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) identification were also carried out to acquire more information on pathway and EST–SSR. According to GO categories, the total ESTs distribute across the various functional categories. In addition, 43 potential toxicology-related clusters were identified. This work provides the first set of genetic data for small abalone which is of great value for further exploitation of this species in functional genomics and toxicogenomics. Our interesting results will be mainly useful to choose biomarkers for ecotoxicological studies.