Transcriptomics of the developmentally plastic spadefoot toad tadpole

Developmental plasticity -- the ability for an organism to adjust its phenotype in response to the environment -- is hypothesized to play an important role in the evolution of novel complex traits and the maintenance of phenotypic polyphenisms. As yet, relatively little is known about the molecular underpinnings of such plasticity in the wild. In this study, we examined transcriptomic data from alternative morphs of larval Mexican spadefoot toads (Spea multiplicata). These tadpoles are able to develop as either a default 'omnivore' morph or a novel 'carnivore' morph. Tadpoles were raised in a carnivore-inducing environment, and carnivores and omnivores from three sibships were sampled 12 days after exposure to the cue. Samples consist of RNA-seq reads from whole tadpoles. This data was utilized to both construct a de novo transcriptome of S. multiplicata, as well as to compare gene expression patterns between morphs to gene expression patterns in a different form of developmental plasticity in other spadefoot toads, the Old World species Pelobates cultripes and the New World species Scaphiopus couchii.