The number of genes classified into each category and proportion of representation threshold from the EST analysis is shown in Table 1.
Genes were reclassified into developmental stages using a series of arbitrarily chosen specificity thresholds, such that in order for a gene to be classified as specific to a stage, its highest proportion of representation had to occur at that stage and also exceed the proportion of representation at any other stage by a threshold of more than twofold, fourfold, or eightfold.
Since depth of sequencing and the relative proportion of representation of the alternate allele play a key role in genotype calling [ 28], we delineated genotype discordances among technical replicates at varying depths of sequencing.
None: No threshold; >twofold, >fourfold, >eightfold: greater than twofold, fourfold, or eightfold proportion of representation relative to other stages, respectively; Unique: genes that are unique to a single developmental stage (see Methods).
When adult gonads were separated into either ovary or testis-specific genes, only genes classified as testis specific had significantly fewer mean interactions (P < 0.05 at no specificity threshold and a greater than twofold proportion of representation threshold).
Genes were classified into developmental stages based on the stage during which they show their highest proportion of representation in the EST libraries, under the assumption that this represents a biologically reasonable proxy of when the majority of a gene's function(s) occur.
Genes were then classified into developmental stages based on the stage in which they showed their highest proportion of representation among sequenced ESTs (that is, the number of sequenced ESTs from each gene divided by the total number of ESTs sequenced in that stage's pooled libraries).
When comparing the average number of interactions per gene between gonadal and non-gonadal tissues in the adult and embryonic stages, we observed significantly fewer interactions in both the adult non-gonad and adult gonad categories as compared to the embryonic general category at no specificity threshold and a greater than twofold proportion of representation threshold (P < 0.05).
Thus, the proportion of international representation in these leading journals may be a crucial factor in influencing health policies in many countries.
It is known worldwide for its good governance record, zero tolerance for corruption and promotion of gender equality (56% of all parliamentarians are women, the highest proportion of female representation in the world).
