Marine sponges possess complex metabolic systems that support their growth, physiology, and ecological interactions. However, the primary metabolic capacity of the sponge hosts remains incompletely characterized at the molecular level. In this study, we performed de novo transcriptome sequencing of a pooled sample of three individuals of Xestospongia sp. collected in Vietnam, using a high-throughput Illumina sequencing system,...

Echinoderms are marine invertebrates that play important roles in structuring marine benthic ecosystems. DNA barcoding has become a valuable tool for species identification; however, reference DNA barcode libraries for echinoderms remain incomplete. This study aims to: (i) develop a COI-5′ reference dataset for echinoderms from Vietnam by integrating DNA barcodes with morphological data; (ii) evaluate species resolution and ba...