De novo transcriptome assembly and annotation of Penaeus monodon hemocytes under WSSV infection and STAT knockdown

Black Tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon) underpins global aquaculture. However, it is periodically impacted by White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV). Because shrimp lack adaptive immunity, antiviral defense relies on innate pathways, including Toll, IMD, and JAK/STAT signaling. We provide a de novo hemocyte transcriptome assembly and RNA-seq dataset to interrogate JAK/STAT function during WSSV infection in P. monodon. Hemocytes were collected at 12 h post-infection under three conditions: (i) WSSV-infected (WSSV), (ii) PmSTAT knockdown (PmSTAT dsRNA), and (iii) PmSTAT- knockdown + WSSV-infected (PmSTAT dsRNA + WSSV). Twelve libraries produced 179.4 million paired-end sequencing reads, with ~99% passed quality filtering. De novo assembly produced 778,680 transcripts; selecting the longest isoform per gene yielded a 586,928-isoform reference set and 28,423 predicted proteins. BUSCO assesment indicated a transcriptome completeness around 90% (Arthropoda). We functionally annotatted 15,966 proteins using BLAST, eggNOG, InterPro, and UniProt. qRT-PCR confirmed PmSTAT knockdown, WSSV infection, and RNA-seq trends for nine differentially expresed genes (DEGs). This validated resource supports future studies of JAK/STAT-dependent antiviral programs and host-WSSV interactions in P. monodon.