Gene expression across tissues, sex, and life stages in the sea urchin Tripneustes gratilla

The pan-tropical sea urchin Tripneustes gratilla is an ecologically and economically important shallow water algal grazer. The aquaculture of T. gratilla has spurred growing interest in the population biology of the species, and by extension the generation of more molecular resources. To this purpose, de novo transcriptomes of T. gratilla were generated for two adults, a male and a female, as well as for a cohort of approximately 1,000 plutei larvae. Gene expression profiles of three adult tissue samples were quantified and compared. These samples were of gonadal tissue, the neural ring, and pooled tube feet and pedicellariae. Levels of shared and different gene expression between sexes, as well as across functional categories of interest, including the immune system, toxins, genes involved in fertilization, and sensory genes are highlighted. Differences in expression of Sex determining Region Y-related High Mobility Group box groups and general isoform expression between the sexes is observed. Additionally an expansion of the tumor suppressor DMBT1 was observed in T. gratilla when compared to the annotated genome of the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus. The draft transcriptome of T. gratilla is presented here in order to facilitate more genomic level analysis of de-novo sea urchin systems.