Fig. 3

Relative mRNA expression level (mean +/− SEM) in chicken tissues for six representative genes investigated by qRT-PCR (see other genes in Additional file 5: Figure S2). These genes (A) present a preferential relative expression in testes (70% for ZMYND10, 61% for ARMC3, 30% for PABPC1, 100% for PKD2L1) or (B) are ubiquitous (RHOA) or highly expressed in another organ (NDST4 in the brain). Tissues are (N = 3 different adult males): T: testis; I: intestine; Li: liver; Lu: lung; VD: vas deferens; M: muscle; B: brain; H: heart. The testis level is arbitrarily equal to 100, and normalisation was performed with the EEF1A housekeeping gene. The specific primers are described in Additional file 7: Table S5. The relative mRNA testis expression levels are indicated in Additional file 3: Table S3A, column O (as percentages). ANOVA, followed by Bonferroni post-hoc tests, was used to compare tissular expression in chickens (* means p < 0.001)