Transcriptome analysis of genes expressed in the brittle star Ophiothrix exigua in response to manganese exposure

MENG Fanxu; SUN Haobo; WANG Xiaogu

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1001-909X.2026.02.008

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Journal of Marine Sciences ›› 2026, Vol. 44 ›› Issue (2) : 74-84. DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1001-909X.2026.02.008

Transcriptome analysis of genes expressed in the brittle star Ophiothrix exigua in response to manganese exposure

MENG Fanxu ¹ ,
SUN Haobo ² ,
WANG Xiaogu ¹^,^*

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Abstract

Manganese， as an important metal mineral resource， has a wide range of application value， at the same time， the potential environmental hazards associated with it cannot be ignored. The discharge of pollutants from nearshore land-based sources and the release of Mn²⁺ during deep-sea seabed mining processes may cause excessive manganese content in marine water. However， the molecular mechanism of the reaction of marine megabenthos to metals is still unclear. In this paper， a transcriptomic study of response to manganese exposure was carried out for the widely distributed marine brittle star Ophiothrix exigua. Differentially expressed genes were identified through transcriptome sequencing. Our study identified 3 756 DEGs between the manganese exposure group and the control group， among which 1 347 unigenes were upregulated， while 2 409 unigenes were downregulated. GO and KEGG pathway enrichments showed that excessive manganese ions had significantly impacted the nervous system and metabolism of the O. exigua.

Key words

deep-sea mining / ecological stress / heavy metal / manganese / differentially expressed genes （DEGs） / cDNA / transcriptome / Ophiothrix exigua

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MENG Fanxu , SUN Haobo , WANG Xiaogu. Transcriptome analysis of genes expressed in the brittle star Ophiothrix exigua in response to manganese exposure[J]. Journal of Marine Sciences. 2026, 44(2): 74-84 https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1001-909X.2026.02.008

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