Cr (VI), the pathogenicity factor, is widely known to cause toxic effects in living organisms. Given the economic importance of the mantis shrimp (Oratosquilla oratoria), the understanding of impacts by Cr (VI) is considered important. In this study, transcriptome of mantis shrimp was characterized by a comparison between control and Cr (VI)-treated samples using RNA-seq approach. Totally, 88 234 826 bp and 13.24G clean reads were obtained. The total length and number of unigenes were 68 411 206 bp and 100 918, respectively. The maximal and average length of unigenes was 24 906 bp and 678 bp, respectively (N50, 798 bp). 7115 of these unigenes accounted for 7.05% of the total that were annotated in all databases. After annotation of assembled unigenes, 35 619 of them were assigned into 3 functional categories and 56 subcategories using Gene Ontology; 18 580 of them were assigned into 26 functional categories using Clusters of Orthologous Groups of proteins; 16 864 of them were assigned into 5 major categories and 32 subclasses using KEGG. Finally, 1730 genes were differentially expressed (DGEs), 9 up-regulated pathways (protein digestion and absorption, neuroactive ligand–receptor interaction, pancreatic secretion, tyrosine metabolism, amoebiasis, ECM-receptor interaction, riboflavin metabolism, amino sugar and nucleotide sugar metabolism and AGE-RAGE signaling pathway in diabetic complications) were significantly enriched (q < 0.05), and one down-regulated pathway (Staphylococcus aureus infection) was significantly enriched (q < 0.05). Up-regulation of genes in pathways of protein digestion/absorption (PepT1/SLC15A and ATP1B) and environment information processing (COL1AS, COL4A; LAMA3_5, LAMB3; FN1 and TN) may imply the potentially positive toxicity resistance mechanisms.

As a widely used medicinal plant, Dendrobium loddigesii Rolfe is always a possible target for fraudulent labeling. The identification of D. loddigesii is generally difficult from its morphological and chemical appearance only. In order to develop a convenient and efficient identification method for D. loddigesii, six pairs of diagnostic ARMS primers were designed based on nrDNA ITS sequences of D. loddigesii and eleven adulterants. The results showed that one diagnostic primer pair (FJB-04-forward, FJB-04-reverse) could be used to authenticate D. loddigesii by generating a fragment of 353 bp at annealing temperatures from 48 °C to 62 °C while the other diagnostic primer pair (FJB-03-forward, FJB-03-reverse) took on the same effect at annealing temperatures from 49 °C to 55 °C. This points out the potential of ARMS analysis for authentication of D. loddigesii.

Chinese mitten crabs (Eriocheir japonica sinensis) are catadromous, spending most of their lives in fresh water, but moving to a mixed salt-fresh water environment for reproduction. The characteristics of this life history might imply a rapidly evolutionary transition model for adaptation to marine from freshwater habitats. In this study, transcriptome-wide identification and differential expression on Chinese mitten crab groups were analysed. Results showed: clean reads that were obtained totalled 93,833,096 (47,440,998 in Group EF, the reference, and 46,392,098 in Group ES, the experimental) and 14.08G (7.12G in Group EF 6.96G in Group ES); there were 11,667 unigenes (15.29%) annotated, and they were located to 230 known KEGG pathways in five major categories; in differential expression analysis, most of the top 20 up-regulated pathways were connected to the immune system, disease, and signal transduction, while most of the top 20 down-regulated pathways were related to the metabolism system; meanwhile, 8 representative osmoregulation-related genes (14-3-3 epsilon, Cu²⁺ transport ATPase, Na⁺/K⁺ ATPase, Ca²⁺ transporting ATPase, V-ATPase subunit A, Putative arsenite-translocating ATPase, and Cation transport ATPase, Na⁺/K⁺ symporter) showed up-regulation, and 1 osmoregulation-related gene (V-ATPase subunit H) showed down-regulation. V-ATPase subunit H was very sensitive to the transition of habitats. These results were consistent with the tests of qRT-PCR. The present study has provided a foundation to further understand the molecular mechanism in response to salinity changing in water.