Transcriptomes of thyroid hormone-exposed Rana [Lithobates] catesbeiana cultured back skin in warm, cold, and temperature shift conditions

Rana [Lithobates] catesbeiana premetamorphic tadpoles retain a molecular memory of thyroid hormone (TH) exposure such that tadpoles exposed to TH at a cold nonpermissive temperature do not metamorphose, but rapidly execute the metamorphic program upon shift to a warm permissive temperature. We compared the transcriptomes of R. catesbeiana cultured back skin exposed to TH in permissive, nonpermissive, or temperature shift conditions. After induction with TH or vehicle control, biopsies were held at permissive temperatures of 24C for 24 h, nonpermissive temperatures of 4C for 48 h or subjected to a temperature shift after 48 h from 4C to 24C for an additional 24 h. The Illumina HiSeq 2500 platform was used to generate strand-specific polyA+ mRNA libraries with 75 bp paired-end sequencing.