Inter-individual gene expression variability across multiple organs in zebrafish, Northern pike, and spotted gar

Phenotypic variation among individuals plays a key role in evolution, since variation provides the material on which natural selection can act. One important link between genetic and phenotypic variation is gene expression. As for other phenotypes, the range of accessible expression level variation (variability) is limited and biased by different evolutionary and developmental constraints. In this project, we used highly multiplexed Bulk RNA Barcoding and sequencing (BRB-seq) to generate transcriptome profiles spanning multiple organs (blood, brain, eye, gills, heart, intestine, kidney, liver, muscle, pectoral fin, testis, ovary, skin, swim bladder) in three ray-finned fish species: Danio rerio (zebrafish), Esox lucius (Northern pike), and Lepisosteus oculatus (spotted gar, unsexed). For each species, we sampled multiple outbred biological replicates in both sexes (when known) to estimate inter-individual gene expression variability per organ or organ-sex condition.