Meeting Abstract

P3.88  Thursday, Jan. 6  Comparative Analysis of Reproductive Tissue Transcriptomes in North American Garter Snake, Thamnophis sirtalis GUNDLING, WE*; SCHULTE, JA; Clarkson University; Clarkson University gundliwe@clarkson.edu

Complex, integrated traits such as viviparity (live birth) evolve through the interaction of developmental-genetic networks in the context of historical selective conditions. Viviparity occurs in two modern amniote lineages, mammals and squamate reptiles (lizards and snakes) and remarkably has evolved independently more than 100 times in squamates. Advances in next-generation sequencing technologies have greatly facilitated the generation of extensive comparative gene expression datasets. We sequenced embryonic and oviduct tissue from the viviparous garter snake, Thamnophis sirtalis. The goals of this study were to determine the similarities and differences in gene expression between the two tissue types, as well as comparing gene ontologies of other distantly related squamates to the Thamnophis transcriptomes. There was significant overlap in gene expression between tissue types but also several minor differences. Comparison of these data with a skink uterine and mammalian transcriptomes found significant similarities with the skink, as expected, versus the mammals. Of greater interest, we will highlight the overlap in gene content among all transcriptomes analyzed as these genes have the greatest potential to yield the most information on common genetic reproductive patterns in amniotes.