Lead (Pb) is one of the most hazardous pollutants and toxic heavy metal in marine environment. The molecular mechanisms of Pb toxicity in aquatic organism are not well understood. In this study, hepatopancreas transcriptome of Litopenaeus vannamei (L. vannamei) was characterized by a comparison between control and Pb exposure samples using RNA-Seq approach. Hepatopancreas morphology of L. vannamei was also assessed. The result reveals that compared with the control group, an increase in the number of B cells was observed following Pb exposure in L. vannamei. Transcriptome data showed that a total of 1593 genes were recognized to be differentially expressed including 1278 up-regulated and 315 down-regulated genes. These genes were mainly associated with energy metabolism, cell apoptosis, exogenous microbial infection, cell junction, and cell adhesion. Fifteen ribosomal protein genes (RPS3, RPS13, RPSA, RPL11, RPS2, RPL8, RPS23, RPL3, RPL5, RPS6, RPS4X, RPS18, RPL19, RPL9, RPL6) were identified as the common hubs of protein–protein interaction (PPI) networks, as well as part of modules of the PPI network. Besides ribosomal protein, we identified differential expression genes (DEGs) including GAPDH, EEF1A1, HSPA8, UBC, and EEF1G as the common hubs of PPI networks. These findings may have important implications for understanding the adverse biological effects of Pb and its toxic mechanisms, as yet not clearly defined, and provide potential biomarkers of Pb exposure in hepatopancreas of L. vannamei, which might be useful for monitoring aquatic environments and assessing the health of the marine ecosystem.

铅（Pb）是海洋环境中最危险的污染物和有毒重金属之一。对水生生物中铅毒性的分子机制尚未完全了解。在这项研究中，南美白对虾（L. vannamei）的肝胰腺转录组的特征是使用RNA-Seq方法比较了对照和铅暴露样品。还评估了南美白对虾的肝胰腺形态。结果表明，与对照组相比，南美白对虾暴露于铅后，B细胞数量增加。。转录组数据显示，总共识别出1593个基因差异表达，其中包括1278个上调基因和315个下调基因。这些基因主要与能量代谢，细胞凋亡，外源性微生物感染，细胞连接和细胞粘附有关。十五个核糖体蛋白基因（RPS3，RPS13，RPSA，RPL11，RPS2，RPL8，RPS23，RPL3，RPL5，RPS6，RPS4X，RPS18，RPL19，RPL9，RPL6）被确定为蛋白质间相互作用的共同枢纽，以及PPI网络模块的一部分。除了核糖体蛋白外，我们还鉴定出包括GAPDH，EEF1A1，HSPA8，UBC和EEF1G在内的差异表达基因（DEG）是PPI网络的常见枢纽。这些发现可能对理解Pb的不利生物学效应及其毒性机制具有重要意义，南美白对虾（L. vannamei），对监测水生环境和评估海洋生态系统的健康状况可能有用。