Fig. 3

RNA-seq analysis of downstream gene expression regulated by cetacean HLEA. A The number of DEGs between WT and HKM during E10.5-E12.5. B A volcano plot illustrating differentially regulated gene expression from RNA-seq analysis between WT and HKM at E10.5. Genes that are upregulated and downregulated are shown in red and blue, respectively. Values are presented as the log2 of tag counts. C The hierarchical clustering of the RNA-seq analysis results shows that the representative top 50 most significant genes with altered expression at E10.5. D Gene ontology (GO) functional clustering of genes that were downregulated for biological processes. E KEGG pathway analysis of downregulated targets in HKM transcriptome. F The hierarchical clustering of the RNA-seq analysis results shows that thirty-four representative genes closely related to limb development were differentially expressed at E10.5–E12.5. G RT-PCR validation analysis of the indicated genes regulated by cetacean HLEA. H RT-PCR validation analysis of the changes in the expression of Hand2, Hoxd13, and Tbx4 from E10.5 to E12.5. Error bar represents the Mean ± SD and p- value was generated by t-test. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01