The importance of tissue specificity for RNA-seq: highlighting the errors of composite structure extractions.

ABSTRACT:

Background

A composite biological structure, such as an insect head or abdomen, contains many internal structures with distinct functions. Composite structures are often used in RNA-seq studies, though it is unclear how expression of the same gene in different tissues and structures within the same structure affects the measurement (or even utility) of the resulting patterns of gene expression. Here we determine how complex composite tissue structure affects measures of gene expression using RNA-seq.

Results

We focus on two structures in the honey bee (the sting gland and digestive tract) both contained within one larger structure, the whole abdomen. For each of the three structures, we used RNA-seq to identify differentially expressed genes between two developmental stages,

SUBMITTER: Johnson BR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3765781 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature