Fig. 1

RNA-seq to identify sex-biased transcript expression. A PCA plot. The principal component analysis demonstrated clustering of samples and their relationships. Numbering indicates the biological replicate. B Volcano plot. The DESeq2 results were depicted by plotting the magnitude of the difference (x-axis: log₂ fold change) against statistical significance (y-axis: − log₁₀P). Each dot, representing one transcript, is color-coded as described in the key to indicate statistical significance (blue), magnitude of fold change (green), both (red), or neither (grey). Dotted lines indicate the thresholds for significance. C RT-qPCR. Graph of log₂ fold change relative to females obtained from DESeq2 analysis of RNA-seq data (grey, *p adj. < 0.05) and calculated from 3 to 6 biological replicates of RT-qPCR (black, *p-value < 0.05, one-sample t-test, µ = 0). D Correlation analysis. Linear correlation between log₂FC values from RNA-seq (x-axis) compared to RT-qPCR (y-axis) determined using Pearson’s R. M male, F females