The pelvic ganglion is a divergent outpost of the sympathetic chains

The sacral autonomic outflow has been deemed parasympathetic and its ganglionic relay, the pelvic ganglion, common to the lumbar outflow, a mixed sympathetic/parasympathetic ganglion. Here we find that it is entirely and equally distinct from sympathetic and parasympathetic ganglia based on its transcriptome, but related to sympathetic ones by the criterion of its top genes. Thus, the pelvic ganglion appears as a divergent outpost of the sympathetic chains. Overall design: The data was generated in two batches: the first batch consisting of the Stellate, Sphenopalatine and Pelvic_1, and the second batch consisting of Lumbar, Coeliac and Pelvic_2. The biological replicates Pelvic_1 and Pelvic_2 served for correcting the bias between the two batches.