Reptile Pregnancy Is Underpinned by Complex Changes in Uterine Gene Expression: A Comparative Analysis of the Uterine Transcriptome in Viviparous and Oviparous Lizards.

ABSTRACT: The evolution of new organs is difficult to study because most vertebrate organs evolved only once, more than 500 million years ago. An ideal model for understanding complex organ evolution is the placenta, a structure that is present in live bearing reptiles and mammals (amniotes), which has evolved independently more than 115 times. Using transcriptomics, we characterized the uterine gene expression patterns through the reproductive cycle of a viviparous skink lizard, Pseudemoia entrecasteauxii Then we compare these patterns with the patterns of gene expression from two oviparous skinks Lampropholis guichenoti and Lerista bougainvillii While thousands of genes are differentially expressed between pregnant and non-pregnant uterine tissue in the viviparous skink, few differentially express

SUBMITTER: Griffith OW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5174741 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature