Neuroscience and Neurobiology Commons^™

Multi-Tissue Transcriptomes Of Caecilian Amphibians Highlight Incomplete Knowledge Of Vertebrate Gene Families, María Torres-Sánchez, Christopher J. Creevey, Etienne Kornobis, David J. Gower, Mark Wilkinson, Diego San Mauro

Neuroscience Faculty Publications

RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) has become one of the most powerful tools to unravel the genomic basis of biological adaptation and diversity. Although challenging, RNA-seq is particularly promising for research on non-model, secretive species that cannot be observed in nature easily and therefore remain comparatively understudied. Among such animals, the caecilians (order Gymnophiona) likely constitute the least known group of vertebrates, despite being an old and remarkably distinct lineage of amphibians. Here, we characterize multi-tissue transcriptomes for five species of caecilians that represent a broad level of diversity across the order. We identified vertebrate homologous elements of caecilian functional genes of …