Transcriptome sequencing of TSD turtles gonadal development-related genes

The Asian yellow pond turtle displays temperature dependent sex determination in which incubation temperature during embryonic development determines the sexual fate of the individual However the mechanism of the sex regulation in turtles with TSD remains a mystery Here we analyze tempera specific gonadal transcriptomes of the Asian yellow pond turtle prior to gonad formation and during the thermosensitive period and embryonic transcriptomes across three TSD turtles to test whether the conversive sex specific candidate genes play the same or similar roles in the developing gonads of the three TSD species These findings will aid future researches on TSD species and in turn contribute toward to further understanding of the vertebrate sex determination mechanisms