RNA-seq dependent transcriptional analysis unveils gene expression profile in the intestine of sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus during aestivation

The seasonal marine, the sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus (Selenka, 1867), cycles annually between periods of torpor when water temperature is above about 25 °C in summer and active life when temperature is below about 18°C. This species is a good candidate model organism for studies of environmentally-induced aestivation in marine invertebrates. Previous studies have examined various aspects of aestivation of A. japonicus, however, knowledge of the molecular regulation underpinning these events is still fragmentary. In the present study, we constructed a global gene expression profile of the intestine tissue of A. japonicus using RNA-seq to identify transcrip