Transcriptome analysis provides insights into the immunity function of venom glands in Pardosa pseudoannulata in responses to cadmium toxicity

Due to some similarity of innate immunity between insects and mammals, the study of the molecular mechanism of innate immunity in insects has become a focus of research. However, the exact molecular and cellular basis of immune system in insect remains poorly understood. Characterization of the transcriptomic response to Cd of spider is an effective approach to understanding the innate immunity mechanisms. In this study, we carried out transcriptome sequencing and gene expression analyses to develop molecular resources for Pardosa pseudoannulata venom glands with and without Cd treatments. A total of 92,778 assembled unigenes and 237 Cd stress-associated differentially expressed genes between the Cd-treated and control groups were obtained. Expression profile analysis demonstrated that immunity-related genes involved in bacterial invasion of epithelial cells, leukocyte transendothelial migration, platelet activation, apoptosis, phagosome, and Rap1 signaling pathway were upregulated by Cd exposure, except the genes involved in PPAR signaling pathway were downregulated. Our results provide the first comprehensive transcriptome dataset of venom glands in P. pseudoannulata response to Cd, which is valuable for throws light on the immunotoxicity mechanism of Cd, and the innate immunity complexity.