Robust strategy for disease resistance and increasing production breeding in red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii)

Red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) is an important aquaculture species in China. With increasing crayfish culture, a number of outbreaks of various diseases have been identified in crayfish. Despite this, there are no reports on the application of disease resistance genes in the molecular breeding of crayfish. In this study, transcriptome analysis was performed to explore the disease resistance genes in crayfish, with a focus on investigating the genetic variations in the open reading frames of these genes, for subsequent haplotype analysis. Furthermore, pathogen-challenge experiments were carried out in the crayfish, to identify the favoured haplotypes. A novel disease resistance gene, R (Resistance), was identified by means of transcriptome analysis. In total, two, four, and five haplotypes of the three disease resistance genes, ALF, R, and crustin2, respectively, were detected. ALF1, R1, and Cru1 were the favoured haplotypes of ALF, R, and crustin2, respectively. Subsequently, the favoured haplotype combinations of the different genes were obtained, and a series of molecular markers were developed to identify them. Finally, we propose a molecular breeding strategy to enhance the disease resistance of crayfish, and thus, improve its production.