Project description:Goal: To determine the effects of capture-release events in wild dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). Methods: An analysis of the Peripheral Blood Leukocyte (PBL) transcriptome was conducted on a group of 20 animals. The samples were collected in 2 different locations along the US east coast (Charleston, SC; Indian River Lagoon, FL) and 2 blood samples were collected for each dolphin 1) immediately after the capture event (*pre*) and 2) just before the animal was released (*post*). In between *pre* and *post* blood collections (30-40 minutes) additional samples were collected from the animals for physiological, chemical and biochemical analysis. RNA extracted from *pre* and *post* blood samples was used for micorarray hybridizations and transcriptome analysis using a species-specific PBL cDNA microarray (Mancia *et al*., 2007). Keywords: blood cells (PBL)
Project description:The Chinese sturgeon (Acipenser sinensis) is anadromous fish distributed in Yangtze River and East China Sea. In this study, we reported cleft-palate Chinese sturgeons in artificial population for the first time. In order to explore the genetic basis of palate malformation in A. sinensis, Illumina RNA-seq technology was used to analyze the transcriptome data of normal and cleft-palate individuals in farmed Chinese sturgeons. Raw reads were obtained and assembled into 808,612 unigenes, with an average length of 509.33 bp and an N50 of 574 bp. Sequence similarity analyses against four public databases (Nr, Uniprot, KEGG and COGs) found 158,642 unigenes that can be annotated. GABAergic synapse and TGF-β signal pathway were the most two enriched pathways with high Richfactor in the analyses of different expressed genes. In these two signal pathways, six genes (GABRA4, GS, GNS, S6K, PITX2, and BMP8) were found as cleft-palate genes in Chinese sturgeon. These findings contribute to our understanding of the genetic basis of cleft palate in sturgeon, while simultaneously adding to our knowledge about craniofacial development.