title: Insights from the transcriptome of the elephant and the origin of eutherian placentation
design: The Qiagen RNeasy kit was used in conjunction with the Qiagen Rnase-Free Dnase Set for cleanup (Qiagen, Valencia, CA, USA) according to the manufacturer’s recommendations.  The concentration and purity of the total RNA isolated from the placental villous trees was tested by using the Nanodrop ND-1000 Spectrophotometer (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Wilmington, DE).  Total RNA (15µg) was submitted to Agencourt Bioscience Corporation (Beverly, MA, USA) per the company’s instructions.