Transcription changes during development in a tidepool copepod

Breeding experiments have identified the process of metamorphosis as an important mechanism of both inbreeding and outbreeding depression in T. californicus. The reason this relatively narrow developmental window is uniquely susceptible to mortality from both close inbreeding and distant outbreeding is unclear. We evaluated stage-specific gene expression across the lifecycle of the study species with particular emphasis on the metamorphic transition from larval to juvenile stages. Our aims were to characterize differences in developmental gene expression and to test if metamorphosis displayed a distinctive genetic signature which may point to why this process is especially vulnerable to stage-specific selection.