Brain Transcriptional Profiles of Male Alternative Reproductive Tactics and Females in Bluegill Sunfish.

ABSTRACT: Bluegill sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus) are one of the classic systems for studying male alternative reproductive tactics (ARTs) in teleost fishes. In this species, there are two distinct life histories: parental and cuckolder, encompassing three reproductive tactics, parental, satellite, and sneaker. The parental life history is fixed, whereas individuals who enter the cuckolder life history transition from sneaker to satellite tactic as they grow. For this study, we used RNAseq to characterize the brain transcriptome of the three male tactics and females during spawning to identify gene ontology (GO) categories and potential candidate genes associated with each tactic. We found that sneaker males had higher levels of gene expression differentiation compared to the other two male tactics.

SUBMITTER: Partridge CG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5132329 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature