Data from: incubation as a driver of maternal effects: temperature influences levels of yolk maternally derived 5α-dihydrotestosterone

Data were collected under an experimental setting in captivitity conditions. Eggs from 29 Japanise quail females were individually marked and weighed with a digital balance (± 0.1 g). Same clutch eggs were randomly assigned to treatments, in a full factorial 2 × 2 design: increased-T eggs incubated at 38° C (n = 40 eggs from 20 clutches), increased-T eggs incubated at 36° C (n = 42 eggs from 26 clutches), control eggs incubated at 38° C (n = 39 eggs from 21 clutches), and control eggs incubated at 36° C (n = 40 eggs from 21 clutches). During the first day of incubation 82 eggs were injected with 25 ng of T (increased-T eggs) diluted in 10 μL sesame oil. The amount of testosterone injected was within the natural range of variation reported for this species (4-30 ng/g of yolk). Seventy-nine eggs were injected with only 10 μL sesame oil. The injection site was sealed with surgical glue. On day four of incubation, a yolk biopsy of 80 μL (< 5% of total yolk volume) was taken from all eggs to quantify hormone concentration (testosterone, estradiol and DHT). Yolk samples were diluted in 100 μL deionized water and frozen at -80° C until hormone analyses. After biopsy, eggs continued with the assigned incubation treatment until hatching.