Transcriptome analysis reveals the genetic basis underlying the seasonal development of keratinized nuptial spines in Leptobrachium boringii

The goal of this study is to compare NGS-derived transcriptome profiling (RNA-seq) from three tissues of L. boringii between two critical periods of the spine growth cycle, and to identify potential genes regulating the seasonal development of nuptial spines in L. boringii. We obtained 94,900 unigenes and 2,131 differentially expressed genes among three tissues between two different spine growh periods. In the upper jaw skin, DEGs were mainly enriched in cytosolic part, peptidase inhibitor activity and peptidase regulator activity. While in the other two tissues, DEGs were primarily involved in cell cycle, DNA replication and melatonin production. Specifically, insulin/insulin-like growth factor and sex steroid hormone related DEGs were identified in the upper jaw skin. The variation of IGF2 and estrogen related genes may be the main factors regulating the seasonal development of the spines. Overall design: RNA profiles of three tissues from two different development periods, in triplicate, using Illumina sequencing. Compare the expression pattern between these two periods and identify differentially expressed genes.