EVO-GENOMICS LAB
Data availability philosophy
Scientific advances are made through the interpretation of gathered data-sets, and to build on these advances it is essential that data is freely available to be compared, contrasted, and re-evaluated following the generation of new data.
Through my research I aim to make all gathered data freely available, and I provide links below to permanent data repositories in which these data are stored.
Not only do I aim to make raw data available, but I hope that I can assist others working on similar questions by providing additional resources such as intermediate files.
If there is other data or files that you think I may have and which could help you with your pursuits, please contact me!
Opossum uterine transcriptomes
To understand the gene expression changes that occur through pregnancy in a marsupial, we did transcriptome sequencing of whole uterus tissue from three stages of the reproductive cycle of the opossum. The most significant finding from this research was that term pregnancy in the opossum is homologous to implantation in eutherian mammals. This homology can be confirmed due to consistent expression of implantation markers at the maternal-fetal interface, and a significant overlap in gene expression changes at the transcriptome wide scale.
This work was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA.
Raw sequenced reads are available for these transcriptome data sets from the sequence read archive:
Monodelphis domestica uterine transcriptome reads: SRP111668
To identify if the opossum has maternal recognition of pregnancy we sequenced the uterus of estrous cycle opossums and compared those to our previously sequenced pregnant samples. This was published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
Estrous cycle RNASeq reads are available here: PRJNA543903
Skink uterine transcriptomes
To understand the gene expression changes necessary for the evolution of pregnancy, we sequenced the uterine transcriptomes of the viviparous placentotrophic skink Pseudemoia entrecasteauxii and two oviparous skinks Lampropholis guichenoti and Lerista bougainvillii.
This work was published in Genome Biology and Evolution.
Raw sequenced reads are available for these transcriptome data sets from the sequence read archive:
Pseudemoia entrecasteauxii uterine transcriptome reads: SRP040433
Lerista bougainvillii uterine transcriptome reads (gravid and non-gravid): SRP090404
Lampropholis guichenoti uterine transcriptome reads (gravid and non-gravid): SRP090404
Amniote embryonic membrane transcriptomes
We sequenced the chorioallantoic membrane of a series of amniote vertebrates to understand the phenomena of genomic imprinting, and the role of embryonic hormones in the evolution of viviparity.
Raw sequenced reads are available for these transcriptome data sets from the sequence read archive:
Pseudemoia entrecasteauxii chorioallantoic and yolk sac membrane transcriptome reads: SRP068367
Chicken (Gallus gallus) chorioallantoic membrane reads: SRP090625
Seahorse brood pouch transcriptomes
The seahorse is a facinating example of an innovation for pregnancy. Placental tissues form from outgrowths of the males abdomen. In collaboration with Camilla Whittington and Tony Wilson we investigated the gene expression changes through multiple stages of pregnancy in brood pouch of the pot bellied seahorse.
Raw sequenced reads are available for these transcriptome data sets from the sequence read archive:
Hippocampus abdominalis brood puch transcriptomes through pregnancy: SRP049289
Offspring size, energy and protein content data
In collaboration with James Van Dyke, we investigated the effect of food abundance and feeding periodicity on placentotrophy in the southern grass skink. This research was published in the American Naturalist.
Gathered data on offspring at birth and maternal mass data is available through Dryad: http://datadryad.org/resource/doi:10.5061/dryad.52n61