Transcriptome analysis of Neocaridina denticulate sinensis under copper exposure

•Transcriptome data of Neocaridina denticulate sinensisresponsetocopper exposure.•122,512 unigenes wereassembledandannotated.•219 DEGs wereidentified and functional enrichment analysis was carried out.•SevenDEGswere validated by qRT-PCR. Neocaridina denticulate sinensis is a small freshwater economic shrimp, as well as excellent laboratory model for their short life cycle and easy availability. However, the response of N. denticulate sinensis to pervasive copper pollution in aquatic environments has not been deeply investigated yet. Herein, we preformed Illumina sequencing technology to mine the alterations of cephalothorax transcriptome under 2.5 μmol/L of Cu2+ after 48 h. 122,512 unigenes were assembled and 219 unigenes were identified as significantly differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between control and Cu2+ treatment groups. Functional enrichment analysis revealed that DEGs were mostly associated with immune responses and molting, such as endocytosis, Fc gamma R-mediated phagocytosis and chitin metabolic process. Seven genes were chosen for qPCR verification, and the results showed that the transcriptome sequencing data were consistent with the qPCR results. This is the first report of transcriptome information about N. denticulate sinensis. These results provided a direction for the future research of resistance to Cu2+ in this shrimp, and simultaneously enriched gene information of N. denticulate sinensis.