RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Transcriptomic Evidence for Reproductive Suppression in Male Peromyscus eremicus (Cactus Mouse) Subjected to Acute Dehydration JF bioRxiv FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory SP 096057 DO 10.1101/096057 A1 Lauren Kordonowy A1 Matthew MacManes YR 2016 UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2016/12/21/096057.abstract AB Understanding how organisms adapt to extreme environments is an outstanding question facing evolutionary biologists. Research related to a specific example of adaptation, mammals in desert environments, has focused on survival, while questions related to the reproductive effects of dehydration have been largely ignored. Here, we explore the reproductive consequences of acute dehydration by utilizing RNAseq data in the desert-specialized rodent, Peromyscus eremicus. Nine genes were consistently differentially expressed between hydrated and dehydrated mice, a low number which aligns with current perceptions of this species’ extreme desert specialization. However, these differentially expressed genes include Insulin-like 3 (Insl3), a regulator of male fertility, as well as Slc45a3 and Slc38a5, both of which interact with genes with important roles in reproductive function. Together, these findings suggest that acute dehydration is linked to reproductive mitigation, a result which is unexpected in an animal capable of surviving and successfully reproducing without available external water sources.