Transcriptome analysis from brain, liver, and testis of Tokudaia muenninki

Two species of genus Tokudaia lack the Y chromosome and SRY, but several Y-linked genes are rescued by translocation or transposition to other chromosomes. By contrast, the Okinawa spiny rat, Tokudaia muenninki, is the only species keeping the Y chromosome owing to sex-autosomal fusions. Previous studies indicated many SRY pseudogenes and other Y-linked genes have evolved by excess duplication in this species. We performed RNA-Seq analysis from the three tissues, brain, liver, and testis, to identify the transcripts of ancestral Y-linked genes in T. muenninki, to reveal the functional conservation of the genes, and to examine whether the genes were compensated by translocation or transposition.