Majority of cystic kidney disease associated genes have corresponding homologs in zebrafish. Shown is a pie chart representing the number of zebrafish homologs exist for known human PKD associated genes. Genes with one zebrafish homolog are in blue, those with two homologs are in orange, and those with no known homologs are in grey.

Transcriptome studies uncover sexual dimorphism in zebrafish kidneys. (A) PCA analysis of RNAseq data for male (M) vs. female (F) kidneys (4 replicates per group). (B) Volcano Plot of M vs. F kidneys (4 replicates per group). Significantly differentially expressed genes (−1.5 < log₂FC > 1.5, FDR <5%) are highlighted green (downregulated) or red (upregulated). (C) Heatmap of total genes in M v F kidneys. (D) Metascape analysis of top differentiated pathways.

Differentially expressed genes and pathways underlying sex dimorphism are shared between zebrafish and mouse kidneys. (A) Venn diagram of shared genes between zebrafish and mouse. (B) Venn diagram of shared pathways between zebrafish and mouse. (C) Plot of log2fold change of shared IPA.

STRING analysis of differentially expressed genes underlying sex dimorphism in zebrafish kidneys. (A) String analysis of all DEGs in male vs. female zebrafish kidneys. Confidence score was set to 0.9. (B) Zoomed in area of clustered genes from (A). (C) Number of nodes in string cluster. (D) Heatmap of STRING Cluster genes in male and female zebrafish kidneys in (B). (E) IPA analysis of STRING Cluster genes in (B).

Sexually dimorphic genes from RNAseq analysis are validated by qPCR. (A) Table of top 10 genes and fold changes from RNAseq analysis. (B) qPCR validation of genes that were downregulated in male kidneys. (C) qPCR validation of genes that were upregulated in male kidneys. Four kidneys from male and female zebrafish were scored, respectively. *: p < 0.05.