RESEARCH ARTICLE Open Access

Transcriptomic profiles reveal the genome-wide responses of the harmful dinoflagellate Cochlodinium polykrikoides when exposed to the algicide copper sulfate Ruoyu Guo1, Hui Wang1, Young Sang Suh2 and Jang-Seu Ki1* Background: Harmful algal blooms (HABs) caused by the dinoflagellate Cochlodinium polykrikoides lead to severe environmental impacts in oceans worldwide followed by huge economic losses. Algicide agent copper sulfate (CuSO4) is regard as an economical and effective agent for HABs mitigation; its biochemical and physiological effects were revealed in C. polykrikoides. However, molecular mechanisms of CuSO4 effect on the C. polykrikoides, even other HAB species, have not been investigated. The present study investigated the transcriptional response of C. polykrikoides against CuSO4 treatments, with the aim of providing certain molecular mechanism of CuSO4 effect on the C. polykrikoides blooms. Results: RNA-seq generated 173 million reads, which were further assembled to 191,212 contigs. 43.3 %, 33.9 %