Macroevolution of Gene Expression in Passerine Birds
Here, we study the macroevolutionary patterns of avian transcriptomes focusing on 22 passerine species and 2 outgroup species. We use whole transcriptome sequencing of up to 6 tissues to assess the fit of established evolutionary models to gene expression and differential expression between avian clades.The ingroup species included are Acanthis flavirostris, Anthus hodgsoni, Aphelocoma woodhouseii, Carduelis tristis, Carpodacus erythrinus, Corvus dauuricus, Emberiza godlewskii, Emberiza leucocephalos, Ficedula albicilla, Haemorhous mexicanus, Hemispingus superciliaris, Parus major, Parus montanus, Petronia petronia, Phoenicurus auroreus, Phoenicurus ochruros, Pyrocephalus rubinus, Rhodopechys mongolica, Spinus psaltria, Sylvia curruca, Thamnophilus bernardi, and Tyrannus vociferans. The outgroup Species included are Dryobates pubescens and Melopsittacus undulatus.