Transcriptomic dataset of two types of coelomocytes from Ophelia limacina (Rathke, 1843)

Coelomocytes are a group of specific cells found in the coeloms of invertebrate animals. They perform a variety of functions including immune response, storage, detoxification, and transport of different compounds. Ophelia limacina, a member of the phylum Annelida, has two morphologically distinct types of coelomocytes: one of which is amoebocytes, typical for annelids, and the other is rod-bearing cells containing an unusual intracellular structure - a central brown-colored rod. Here we present the transcriptomic data of both cell populations. For this purpose, a total of 148 individuals were collected in the White Sea. The coelomocytes were isolated, both populations of cells (amoebocytes and rod-bearing cells) were enriched using a manual method and then RNA was extracted for NGS-library preparation and further sequencing. Based on obtained data we de novo assembled a representative transcriptome of coelomocytes from O. limacina using Trinity. Differential expression analysis enabled us to identify transcripts exhibiting significant expression differences between amoebocytes and rod-bearing cells of O. limacina.