Construction of a full-length cDNA library of Solen grandis Dunker and identification of defense- and immune-related genes

The basic genetic characteristics, important functional genes, and entire transcriptome of Solen grandis Dunker were investigated by constructing a full-length cDNA library with the 'switching mechanism at the 5′-end of the RNA transcript' (SMART) technique. Total RNA was isolated from the immune-relevant tissues, gills and hemocytes, using the Trizol reagent, and cDNA fragments were digested with Sfi I before being ligated to the pBluescript II SK* vector. The cDNA library had a titer of 1048 cfu μL^-1 and a storage capacity of 1.05×10⁶ cfu. Approximately 98% of the clones in the library were recombinants, and the fragment lengths of insert cDNA ranged from 0.8 kb to 3.0 kb. A total of 2038 expressed sequence tags were successfully sequenced and clustered into 965 unigenes. BLASTN analysis showed that 240 sequences were highly similar to the known genes (E-value < 1e ^-5; percent identity >80%), accounting for 25% of the total unigenes. According to the Gene Ontology, these unigenes were related to several biological processes, including cell structure, signal transport, protein synthesis, transcription, energy metabolism, and immunity. Fifteen of the identified sequences were related to defense and immunity. The full-length cDNA sequence of HSC70 was obtained. The cDNA library of S. grandis provided a useful resource for future researches of functional genomics related to stress tolerance, immunity, and other physiological activities.