The overall aim of this joint exchange programme is to establish a long term bilateral network (Europe & Australia) of researchers active in functional genomics in crustacean aquaculture, strengthen research capacity through exchange of knowledge and expertise in this area, and develop integrated approaches to investigate the main metabolic processes to improve crustacean production due to its high demand and decrease of fisheries captures. The joint exchange programme will involve four partners and will be realised through a series of secondments and face-to-face meetings of staff and PhD students. Training will include Next Generation Sequencing, bioinformatics and gene knockout. The main research objective of the project is to develop transcriptomic markers that provide predictive tools for assessing species-specific nutritional requirements that optimise reproductive and growth performance. This goal includes developing a comprehensive understanding of gender-tailored nutritional requirements in each target species that maximize growth performance of monosex cohorts and that optimise broodstock performance. Comparative and integrative approaches to delineating and refining the specific nutritional requirements for specific target taxa will assist development of the crustacean aquaculture industry (this is relevant to both reproductive and growth-related traits). To reach the main research objective of the project we need to assess and characterize genes and pathways involved in nutrition, growth and reproduction differentially expressed between males and females in order to improve the production of decapod crustaceans in captivity. Then, the final objective of the project is to select the main representative genes related to nutrition, growth, and reproduction or sexual differentiation, to develop molecular tools for improving the culture of the main groups of decapod crustacean species (shrimps, prawns and crabs).