Ninespine stickleback differential expression analysis

The ninespine stickleback (Pungitius pungitius) is the most widespread and abundant freshwater fish in the Arctic. It is highly tolerant of pollution and is found in close proximity to formerly used defense sites on St. Lawrence Island that have been contaminated by various polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners and other pollutants. The goal was to use ninespine stickleback as a vertebrate model for studying changes in gene expression of relevance to the health of human populations on St. Lawrence Island. We used RNA seq to compare changes in gene expression in adult female ninespine stickleback from sites highly contaminated by PCBs versus those that were only slightly contaminated with these pollutants.