RNA-seq analysis of alligator gonad during sex determination. Alligator mississippiensis

The American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) displays temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD), in which incubation temperature during embryonic development determines the sexual fate of the individual. Alligator sex is determined during stage 21-24, and the gonad is bipotential prior to sex determination. In this study, A. mississippiensis embryos were incubated under female-producing temperature (30C) until embryonic stage 19, at which point the eggs were split into two incubating temperatures, male- (33.5C) and female-producing temperature, and sampled over the course of 36 days. This study was conducted to analyze the influence of initial environmental temperature upon gene expression and also extensively profile gonad-specific gene expression pattern that occurs during TSD by using RNA-seq analysis.