Tissue Specific Transcriptomes of Five Amphibian Species

The primary purpose of this study was to identify bitter taste receptors (TAS2RS) in oral and extra-oral tissues for a diverse assortment of amphibians including axolotl, the American bullfrog, the cane toad, the golden dart frog, and the western clawed frog. As part of this project, we generated tissue-specific transcriptomes for five amphibian species, including tongue, brain, stomach, intestines, ventral skin, dorsal skin, and liver.Frogs were euthanized through an overdose of topical benzocaine applied ventrally on the femoral patches and lower venter, while axolotl were euthanized by immersion in 0.1-0.2% tricaine for one hour, followed by decapitation. All animals were immediately dissected for tissue harvest. For 9 of our bullfrog samples, we found low RIN scores in our primary (fresh) samples and switched to backup samples frozen in RNAlater.